We are all fans of someone or something. There are a large number of things that I readily proclaim to be a fan of, just like everyone else I know. And without thinking twice.

So far so good. Until I read a post by a friend of mine where she demanded that Salman Khan should be unconditionally pardoned just because he is simply so handsome!

No, I did not flood her with "how ashamed she should be of herself" comments. To tell you the truth though, it was kind of hard not to. It isn't really about her anyway, it's about a specific culture that causes this. Welcome to the world of fans!

The  Merriam-Webster, the Oxford dictionary and other sources define it as a shortened version of the word 'fanatic'. Think of the word fanatic and you form a mental image of mullahs with chest length beards and Pandits with vermilion smeared foreheads running around with swords ready to kill everyone who does not agree with what they say. Well, think again, cause it's YOU!

Come to think of it, the Oxford definition is pretty apt.

As fans we agree to look beyond the mistakes that a public person makes. Now that defies rationale, does it not?

Hang on, we actually take it another step forward. The internet is full of people trying to defend the wrongs of a public person. If it's a person, he is certain to make mistakes.

Not convinced? I will give you an example.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Mr. Narendra Modi is a better candidate for the nation's Prime Minister's post than Mr. Rahul Gandhi by miles. Now that said, he still needs all the help he can get to become the Prime Minister.

So is he going around gathering all the support he can get from long standing supporters of the BJP's   ideology?  And perhaps trying to win new and good allies? No, he is doing exactly the opposite. Does he believe that he alone will lead the BJP to majority in the new parliament? Well, he better. Otherwise it just makes him look plain stupid, doesn't it?

Even if he believes that he alone would be able to do it, there is still no harm in not antagonizing a lot of people I believe. Maybe Mr. Nitish Kumar had some pretty unreasonable demands, but the way in which he was hounded out, seemed very brash. I am sorry, Mr. Modi.

Well try explaining that to Mr. Modi's fans. Or posting that somewhere. (Mr. Modi's fans will find you, no worries.)

They will flame you to death. They will compare Mr. Modi to Rambo, saving twelve thousand people in a matter of a couple of days. They will upload Youtube videos with captions like "Narendra Modi's tight slap to ...........". And for anyone who tries to make a watertight argument on something that Mr. Modi did not do right, they will question his right to criticize someone whom he cannot match up to in achievements. That's an absurd argument. Criticism is the only right that I practically have anyway, hindered occasionally when Mr. Kapil Sibal decides to intervene.

But I miss the point. It's not about argument. Fans are not interested in argument or rationale. They would not be called fans then.

Not the political types? More examples.

The Dark Knight Rises was simply not as good as the second part of the Batman trilogy, "The Dark Kinght". And that's immaterial anyway. If I do not like a movie, I have the complete right to say that I do not recommend the movie. Apparently, that's not what the 'fans' thought. 

In fact, a pretty otherwise rational friend of mine, who happens to be a Sachin Tendulkar fan would scream himself hoarse if we said something critical of the little master. And that was when he was perfectly aware that the ONLY reason why we criticized Sachin around him was because we enjoyed watching himself scream himself to throat ache!

So starting today, I admire much of the world, some of it an obscene amount. But I am not a fan of anything, thank you. It's just that I value my rationality a little too much.

Sheldon (USA) - You must stop building nuclear weapons.
Iran - I am not building nuclear weapons.
Sheldon - I do not trust you.

Sheldon - You must let me inspect your apartment.
Iran - Why would I do that?
Sheldon - Because the security council told you so.

(Turning to Leonard(EU), Howard(Israel) and Raj (South Asia)) - Tell him.

Leonard - Leave the guy alone.
Sheldon - Do it or I will tell everyone about ur goof-ups with Penny, Bernadette and Lucy. TELL HIM!

Leonard, Howard and Raj (in unison) - Please let Sheldon inspect your apartment.

Iran - I do not even have nukes. You have nukes.
Sheldon - My nukes are good. Yours are for terrorism.
Iran - I never ever attacked anybody. The same cannot be said of you.

Sheldon - Doesn't make a difference.
Iran - Why is that?
Sheldon - Because I said so. I am brilliant.
Iran - How is that even relevant?

Sheldon (exasperated) - I will impose sanctions on you.
Iran - Hello, I do not trade with you, what will you sanction?

Sheldon (Turning to Leonard, Howard and Raj ) - Tell him you will impose sanctions on him.
Leonard, Howard and Raj (in unison) - Not again!

Sheldon - Well gentlemen, you had your chance....
Leonard, Howard and Raj (in unison, cutting him off) - We will impose sanctions on you.

Raj - Come on Sheldon, now let the guy go!

Sheldon - One last thing.
Iran - What??
Sheldon - You really should bring in democracy.

Iran - Really? The last time I had democracy, you were the one who destroyed it.
Sheldon - Well, I must tell you that it was for your own good.....

Diya Mirza (the poor man's Aishwarya Rai) , once revealed in an interview how she would skip meals to be able to afford the cab from her way back from work, back in her struggling days. That was long back, but I guess the information stayed with me because I thought the story was kinda inspirational.

Or was it?

Diya Mirza could have taken a bus/train/tram from work as well. That way, the whole skipping meals sob story wouldn't have been essential any more. But that was Diya Mirza. Or was it?

Our generation suffers from a weird insecurity. Let me give you an example. Back when I worked at a consulting firm, everyone came to office in Levi's denims. Well, to be truthful not everyone did, but more people did than otherwise. Now that I work at a product based organization (where the average pay is considerably higher), most people I come across dress in more sensibly priced brands. I once went for an interview at Google India, and the interviewer came dressed in a fluorescent orange turtle neck that I'm sure came off a flea market for not more than 150 bucks.

We seem to have reached a stage where we do what the market demands of us. Another example? How do you explain the obscene percentage of students who chose

1) Engineering degrees

2) Software Jobs

3) Management degrees

in that order? Hell, software doesn't even pay more these days! And I have lost count of the number of people who hated their engineering courses, went on for management degrees and then hated those even more.

Personally, I always feel the pinch every time someone goes for higher studies in the US. Why? I have no idea. I would enjoy creating an android app or optimizing an SQL query far more than say, mugging up a network packet structure; but the market tells me that the action is abroad.

I recently bought one of the best (and the costliest) phones in the market. The price was certainly way out of my league, but I still did. And now I think:

1) The screen is definitely huge and gorgeous, but I spend almost 18 hours a day in front of a screen which is 4 times larger; the PC monitor. 9 hours out of these 18 are spent in front of two such display panels.

2) Games do run butter smooth; thanks to a dual core processor, but I would prefer the FPS games that run a tad awkwardly on my single core PC any day.

3) My office is just a 20 minute walk away, and I could do without any music during this journey.

4) I really do not need most apps on the go, as I have better softwares installed on my PC; and I am in front of it most of the time anyway.

Point is, I still love the phone. Forget love, I am crazy about it. That's in part because I can appreciate the elegance of the product and the design of the software, which a big section who buy such phones cannot. (Not because they are dumb, but because they aren't into engineering per se).

And buying a phone is just the start. After the phone, I bought an elegant case for it which incidentally cost me more than what I would get for reselling my old phone. Now, I have realized that the 2G data connection on the phone can hardly do any justice to its abilities, so the solution seems to be an obscenely priced 3G data connection. Next, I would be buying 500 bucks apps on the market. At the end of the day however, playing Need for Speed on my PC is still going to be a hands down better experience.

I remember a health drink ad which talked about how we should run or fall behind. Well, we are running, but where are we running to? And what are we running for? I completely advocate running for a goal, but truth is, most of us are completely clueless. I still remember when a trainer asked this question to a training room of 15 people.

What do you want to become in life?

It's a simple enough question. One that I am sure every 5 year old can answer at the drop of hat; Pilot, soilder, actress, teacher and the like. Most people out of a class of 15 answered what sounded like,

"I want to fulfill my responsibilities to the best of abilities; rise up the value chain and network across my peers".

That's one answer that my simple brain cannot make any sense of. Is that what you are running for?

So what are we losing out on? Relationships? Perhaps values? Baba Ramdev can tell you more about them.

What I feel that we as a generation are losing out on is creativity. I know that for sure when I look at someone wearing a (fake) solid colored tee with "being human" written in a simple font in white, and I feel, "this doesn't look bad".

It was the summer of 2001 when God Narayana decided that he had enough. Kalyug was a mess, and it was time for him to descend upon it and cleanse the earth as he had done in the previous Yugs.

The job had to be done, and God Narayana knew that he had delayed it long enough. But then it was never easy. It was troublesome adjusting to the peculiar ways of the humans. The humans had a wide variety of customs and traditions which were irrationally peculiar; but the weirdest thing was that they fanatically defended the traditions that they followed and denounced those that they did not. Goddess Lakhsmi had tried to calm his nerves, but it wasn't of much help. How could it be when Narayana knew that it was certain to get tougher this time? The very thought of cleansing Kalyug left butterflies fluttering in Narayana's stomach.

Procastrination never helps and being amongst the greatest of Gods, Narayana was well aware of that. So one fine day, in the September of 2001, Narayana descended upon planet earth. Little did he know that on 21st July, 2001, Aamir Khan's latest movie 'Dil Chahta Hai' had been released.

He sent an 'All's well' sms to goddess Lakshmi. And that was the end of all communication. Hours went by and soon two days had elapsed without a single word of communication from Narayana. Goddess Lakhsmi had started to grow anxious. True, Narayana was a God, but then you could never know what dangers lurked in Kalyug. But that was not what Lakshmi was really worried about. The real danger were those pretty Bollywood heroines who had started to shed clothes at an alarming rate. As with every Indian woman, Lakshmi was never comfortable leaving Narayana in the company of pretty women. How could she after listening to all those horrifying stories of Greek Gods falling in love with earthly damsels??

It was time to send in a gaurd. So Lakhsmi sent two trusted gaurds to check what Narayana was up to. Another two days passed. There was still no trace of Narayana or the gaurds. Lakshmi knew it was time for her marraige's mid-life crisis. She knew she had to act and act fast, if she had to save her marraige from going kaput. The very thought of losing Narayana to a bollywood heroine brought tears to her eyes.

But just as she was about to leave for earth, there was a knock on the door. Lakshmi opened the door with trembling hands. And there was Narayana. But he looked so sick and depressed that Lakshmi could only gape in horror. Lord Narayana went up to his room, put up a "DND" sign and locked the door.

A day passed like that. Lakhsmi was growing anxious. But secretly, she was happy that Narayana had finally come back to her. Finally unable to hold back her curiosity, she knocked on the door. First there was no response. But after a lot of nagging, Naryana finally relented and agreed to tell Lakshmi all that had transpired between the 'All's well' sms and Narayana's return.

" I'm growing old", said Narayana to Lakshmi. "It's high time I gave up being a God and started growing vegetables in our backyard". "Bulls**t, you still flirt with the same vigour", said Lakshmi coyly. "No, I'm serious, I've started forgetting things", he said. Lakshmi had started to grow curious again. Narayana went on," Never in my wildest dreams can I think of making such a mistake. It's simply unforgivable. I'm no longer worthy of being revered a God. No Lakshmi, perhaps you have grown used to the comforts of being a goddess, but its time we adjust to a simpler lifestyle".

Now that infuriated Lakshmi. "Will you stop beating around the bush and tell me what actually happened?", she retorted.

" From the memories of my Dwapar Yug trip, I remember that humans grew moustaches on top of their upper lips. But you know what, I found that my memory has started to play tricks on me. Coz I just found out that all males had moustaches at the bottom of their lower lips".

Let me tell you a story.
Mr. X gets up at 7 every morning. He shaves and shits and drinks his coffee and showers and all that. He switches a few channels and catches up with the stocks on their ever crazy journey. By this time his kid is ready and Mr. X drops him off at school.

Beautiful Mrs. X. gives Mr. X a long list of what she wants for her household. She complains about that trip he had promised and how they should go out for dinner that night. Mr. X talks about how busy he is at work. Mrs. X understands nothing of what Mr. X does in his office. Mr. X leaves for office in his sleek car.

Days at office are rarely different for Mr. X. He meets clients and delivers presentations and attends office meetings where people talk at length about stuff no one is interested in. And he spends time creating those presentations debating whether to use 11 point Arial or Garamond 12. Mr. X brings back home some work and the stuff Mrs X had ordered. His kid tells him what he did at school and Mr. X feels guilty because he does not find enough time to teach him maths. Mrs X keeps complaining about this and that but on some days they have a pretty good time.

Once or twice in a year, the X's go out for vacations. They share their photos with their friends and talk excitedly about the trip. Sometimes, Mr. X goes out on office trips.

Growth for Mr. X means a bigger office and a better pay. Mr. X works not beacuse he is very interested in it, but because he has a family to support and a future to secure. On some rare nights Mr. X gets all nostalgic and tells Mrs. X about his dreams and fantasies when he was in college. Beautiful Mrs. X doesnt seem to connect much with all that.

You know what??
I'm calculating how much time I have before I turn into Mr. X. Except the beautiful Mrs. X part perhaps. Given the direction in which my career is progressing, it's just a matter of time before I turn into Mr. X. Where is the INNOVATION in my life?

This is not what I had signed up for when I decided to be an engineer. I need an escape route. Any ideas anyone?

Hello blogging world!!

I'm back. After a hugely successful stint in the college technical festival, INSTRUO as Internal Coordinator. This would rank amongst the most satisfying experiences of my life.

As a part of the package, comes the hype and the recognition. Only to dwindle and die away with time. Not that I'm complaining one bit. Yeah, I impressed lots of people. And as usual, none of them were girls. *wink*.

But that's something I will talk about some other day. Today, with the Instruo experience and the anticipation of the cultural fest just around the corner, I want to talk about something entirely different. I want to talk about the two mistakes of my life.

I would have loved a better physique. With an imposing physical appearance, some things would have been far easier.

I should have learned some music. That's one area I have never explored. Except listening to music; some idiots call that a 'hobby'.

Perhaps its too late to amend these mistakes. Perhaps its never too late. Only time can tell. Instruo pictures coming soon.

After twenty years of soul searching, I finally found the answer.

I've never found true love. I've never seen phenomenal success or phenomenal luck. I never got any richer overnight. Forget true love, no one ever showed any romantic interest in me. Every night, after I lie down and till I start to snore, I wonder where the problem lies.

But no more guys, 'cause I found the answer last night.

"........send this email to 15 people including me and you will find true love by tomorrow. Ignore this and you will never find love"

"......send this scrap to true friends and see a miracle happen by tonight. Ignore this and......"

I spent my childhood in a religious city and people would often hand me leaflets saying,"

Mata XYZ devi ki kripa

..... get 1000 copies of this pamphlet distributed and you will get richer by millions.....

Mr. ABC ignored and got fired from office and ..........

Mr. DEF did 5000 and currently owns crores..."

I'm sorry Mr. Bulkmailer, I'm sorry Mr. Junkscrapper, I'm sorry Mr. Leaflet distributor. I'm sorry because I never paid any attention to what you said. I never forwarded those emails, I never went to a printer. Not that I ever plan to.

But I would like to request everyone reading this post to refrain from sending me those mails and scraps and whatever. You see, I've already done a lot of sin accumulation. And the only way anyone can help me, is by not adding to the already accumulated bundle.

As for the leaflets, I always get curious and accept whatever is handed out to me. From now on, I'm planning to staple a request on my shirt asking all leaflet hand-outers to oblige. Pity they don't read blogs.

Life's weird.

It's been a month since I wrote something thanks to exams. All along, I had been planning to write that post. But one evening I watched October Sky and I am writing about something so completely different.

It's a movie about following your dreams. Dreams that sound so impossible that the world laughs at them. Dreams that do not seem logical, not even remotely possible. It's the story of a boy who dreams such a dream and then realizes it.

I'm not an emotional person, I never get too sad or too happy and cannot recall the last time I shed tears. But watching the movie got me so emotional that I'm writing a blog post about it. And guess what, the movie is no tragedy. It ends on such a happy note!

It was then that I realized that I'm a person who lives in and has always lived for his dreams. It's pretty odd for me to get so moved by a movie, but yes, I am moved. And why shouldn't I be? 'Cause a person without dreams is a dead person. Nature did not risk creating humans(given the havoc we have played with it), just because it wanted one more species that would eat, sleep, drink, go shopping, party and slug on in a job he never dreams about.

So, the next time someone tells you that your dreams are preposterous, stop listening to him. It doesn't really matter whether you live to see your dreams convert into reality. For if you can dream, you are better than every pathetic idiot who doesn't. And sometimes I hope I always had a dream to run after. Coz if I run out of dreams someday, what would I do?? Yeah, the society might consider me successful, but I would be no better than the labourer at a construction site who has forgotten how to dream. Perhaps we should teach them how to dream as well.

So DREAM ON GUYS!

For dreams might not always make success stories, but they do make extraordinary stories.

(This post is directly inspired by Big K's criticism about the recent fundraiser, Rock on for humanity.)

This is perhaps, a very cynical and obtuse view of high profile fundraisers. But after you are through with this article, (assuming you are patient enough to bear with my crap), if you feel that there is an iota of sense in what I've put down, I would consider myself successful.

Let us consider an example. Suppose you have a big event organized for raising funds for homeless children. Let me list the beneficiaries:

1. The Event Management Company - Does a contract worth lakhs, if not crores. At a sizeable profit, needless to say.

2. The Politician - He gets some money(under the table, of course) to allow the event in his area. Also, gets the opportunity to campaign for free and a few front page Ads showcasing his generosity. I'm not considering the nominal five star lunch and drinks.

3. The big Bollywood star - Performs at the event at a "reduced" fee. Means more of tax free "under the table" income. Also gets to popularize his newest movie and it's music. And also gets to brag about his social awareness.

4. The Revelers - Have fun @ Dad's cash - Now that hardly hurts. Also get to go high on booze, sex and drugs after the gala. All in the name of homeless children.

5. The wannabes - Get to rub shoulders with the bigwigs and free publicity before the biggies come on stage.

6. The socialites - Get to look for their next boyfriend / girlfriend. Am I stretching this too far? Come on, every cricketer meets the sexy starlet at some fundraiser. At least that's what they all say.

7. The NGO - Whatever little money is left after all this economics has been considered, goes to an NGO. Half of them are corrupt and almost another half are grossly incapable.

Now come the homeless children. Don't worry, the rest does go for their upliftment.

We do care about homeless children, don't we?

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR (all belated) to all my readers.

For the past few days, I've been frustrated with the way things have shaped up. My work on the search program and the IC tester is stuck. To add to that, the final year project on 3D IC testing algorithms has still not taken off. My singleton status prevails and I continually keep switching between ready to mingle and not ready to mingle *grin*. I'm still trying to beat that time posted on that NFS Most Wanted track by that guy on the internet. And I'm yet to start getting used to with JAVA.

In short life isn't that rosy now.

Now, people continually keep switching in and out of states of frustration like these. We all have our own strategies to keep stress and frustration at bay. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. Sometimes things get better by themselves and we credit that to the stress buster algorithms. But we never stop trying, do we?

So I decided to post my stress buster algorithms in the hope that you will give me an insight into yours. (In case you haven't noticed, there's a comment link at the bottom of this post).

This is what I do.

• Stop sleeping all day - The more frustrated you get, the more you sleep. The more you sleep, the more frustrated you get. Vicious cycle.

• Shave - If you are a guy who doesn't shave regularly. If you do, grow a big stubble and then shave *wink*.

• Sport - Indulge in your favorite sport. But mind you, if you lose, things can get worse.

• Don't chat - Stop chatting on the net. It increases my frustration levels.

• Stay away from the Internet - If you have a slow connection, this is a must. Even if you don't, it might still help.

• Indulge in something creative - This can be very very tough. But if you are successful in doing this, the battle is over.

• If you are a foodie, get a big heavy delicious dinner. Don't, if you want a size zero.
  

• Splurge, go shopping - What the mags say. Probably valid only for women. One of the main reasons why men get frustrated in the first place.
  

• Get up earlier than you ever have and stroll a mile - Works wonders!

But remember, the most important stress buster is that you try one of these stress busters! Waiting for your tips.

It's over.
What is over??

Lots of things, actually. The last few days have been hectic. My quaint sleepy life was burdened with responsibilities, and I had to work for many more hours than I am comfortable. I missed reading the blogs I visit and I could not manage to write the one post I have been wanting to post for quite a few days.

A few days ago, I was chatting with a blogger friend.

A few more days ago I was chatting with the same blogger friend. It was after the Mumbai blasts. And my GOD, she was furious.

She was furious with the corruption in the government, she was furious about their vote bank politics, she was furious with the profit oriented media. She told me that she wanted to do something, perhaps take up matters in her own hands, perhaps join politics in her own way. She was hurt and so was I and so was the rest of India. It almost seemed that the great Indian middle class was on fire and the time was ripe to witness a historic change. Well, she was saying exactly what was on my mind.

I had almost forgotten everything until the chat a few days ago. In a flash, everything came back and I was tempted to ask her about her plans and what she had done with them. She replied that her normal life had taken over, she was busy with her projects and I saw that I was busy with mine. The great Indian middle class had moved on. And the Mumbai blasts were forgotten as another nightmare from a distant past.

How long has it been? Barely a fortnight. WOW!

Did we have another choice? Could we have done better? The blast has thrown unpleasant questions that we can't answer. How much more can we take before our fury actually spills over?

In time I will also forget these questions. And India would move on. Perhaps I'm getting too emotional. Perhaps it's a direct result of admiring the movie 'Hazaroon Khwahishein Aisi'. Perhaps.................

But what is also over is the extraordinarily long planned wait for me to update my blogroll. And I'm pleased to bring in Shweta, Richa and Divya. Oh yes, blogger friend, please don't mind. :D

Remember what I said about guest posts? Now forget all that and read what blogger Richa says. Thanks Richa!

Reading Pranav's posts about the traffic and traffic policemen, I am reminded of a few anecdotes and irks on the road, I have been thinking lately to jot them down, so here they come...

Anecdote 1.

Day/ Time- I was in 12th standard, so it must be around 2001.

I had learnt to drive a car when I was in 10th standard and since I was not an adult, I didn't have my driving license, but still I drove, but drove safe :D

I had to drop my mom and chachi to the hospital for a regular check up (my chachi was expecting that time). The hospital is at almost 2 kms from my home, so I drove them and was returning alone, when I noticed that the traffic police had set up a naka in the meantime at the signal. Now I didn't have a license, and I was confident enough- they didn't stop women/ girls for checking, I stopped on the red light. Then, out of nowhere, a female shapata (punjabi vernacular used for hawaldar) appeared and asked me for my license. Well, I told her confidently, that I had left it at home as I was in a hurry, and my home was just across the lights, I could go back and fetch it and show it to her. But she didn't seem to believe me- (obviously why would she??)

I kept on trying to convince her to let me go, and meanwhile I saw other girls/ ladies moving towards their destinations without being asked for their licenses... why me? I thought!! She was dying to write me a challan, which I was convinced not to let her do... I asked her if she could let me go anyhow, and this was what she had been waiting for.. She said "eddan taan 500 rupaye laggne" (otherwise 500 bucks would do)... I was taken aback. I told her I didn’t carry that much amount with me and on this she looked at me helplessly and annoyed and mumbled "enni waddiyan gaddiyan lae k turi firde ne te jeb ch paise v nai rakhde" (this big cars they drive and keep pockets empty), I looked at her amazed. but then anyhow I were saved of the challan- thanks to a VIP's relative who was also a fish to the traffic police, but whose approach saved us all in the queue!!

Anecdote 2.

I am sorry- but offense intended at all those labor class bhaiyas who move on the roads, high on drugs, or whatever they do..

This one is not that old, but a 4 years back almost. Mom and I were on the road, I behind the steering. At a roundabout, out of nowhere, a cycle appeared on the road with the two bhaiyas- one riding and other one hanging on it (I pity the cycle). And since it was so abrupt, I could not see them and could not apply brakes in time. They fell off the cycle and the cycle too- on them. And those foolish bhaiyas, they got up, smiled- rather laughed, picked their cycle, mounted it and disappeared. I was left on the roundabout, scared that I might have hurt them, but as they went away, the peechhe wala bhaiya waved at me, and my face went red with fury!!! Gosh, what the hell!! I could have hit them... but their cycle saved them...

I still fell heat erupting out of my ears while I write this X(

What irks me on the road!!

• The honking people on the red lights or in the traffic jams.
• The auto rickshaw drivers who break where ever they like- whether it is a turn, or a traffic jam.
• The spoiled brats who think the road was gifted to them by their daddy on their b'day.
• The spoiled brats who follow girls.
• Aunties who do not know driving.
• People who don’t know parking manners.
• The beggars at signals.

The list is not exhaustive!!

I never write about blasts. But this time, I have something to reflect on.

Please do not blame the terrorists. Yes, you heard it right, please do not blame them. They are a bunch of brain-washed, brave, passionate and maybe psychotic guys who cannot tell the right from the wrong. I'm not glorifying terror but think for a moment and you can't deny that the adjectives I have used are apt. Let us not be blind to the truth in our grief.

So why Mumbai? Not because Pakistan is our neighbor, no. Many states back terrorists to strike at other countries. But they do not bleed the way we do.

Do not blame the politicians. We elect them, yes, you and I. And it isn't like everyone has turned corrupt in a few years. This has been on for decades. But we continue to elect the same faces every time. And guess what, whatever we might say, we all know that this is what we would do again.

You see who was responsible for the strike??

What do you think will happen? Diplomatic edge and everything? Nothing is going to come out of it. India cannot strike Pakistan, it's a nuclear power and a strike is out of the question. Even the US cannot, more so when the country is your neighbor.

The US is backing India only because it does not want India to accumulate troops at the border. That will hurt US interests. The US is fighting for itself, not for India.
So, the great Indian circus show will go on for some months. Perhaps a bit more stringent security measures for some time. Then we will forget the wounds. And the netas would heave their sighs of relief.

What would you and I do? We would continue to run after our promotions and our IT jobs and MBA's. We would dream of that car and that apartment and that perfect home. Some evenings over coffee, we would reflect and blame the politicians. We are just not ready to get our hands dirty to do the cleanup job.

Until someone comes and blows up that dream. Then the cycle would repeat. And the news channels would say, life in Mumbai has come back to normal.

A cleanup isn't necessary for the nation. It is necessary to save our own skins.

I haven't been posting for quite some time, but that's not because I did not find time to post( in spite of my sems being on, that is). Actually it's because I did not have the liver to post. Three exams dealt with, and they went off quite well. In fact it was better than I had reason to expect. But there are still four more to go, and Digital signal processing isn't over yet. Thanks to the strike in the city, I am enjoying an extended break which adds one more to the reasons why I love Kolkata. But it also means that I would need to put off my trip back to sweet home which adds one more to the reasons why I hate the city. I am confident that I wont manage to sit down amongst books for at least two days out of the five day break, so I hope can use some of the time to work on my projects. Placements are just a month off and I have planned to complete two pending projects before that, so I would better move ahead with some of the work.
The other evening I was chatting with a friend and the discussion hovered up to power and the powerful. As is the case with lots of other places, we have quite a bit of power politics going on around here. I came up with a definition of power and in retrospect, I am quite pleased about it. I defined power as the ability to influence fellow men to act in a manner in which they would not have acted under other circumstances. And I classified it into power that originates due to something that is mundane and something that originates from the force in a man's personality. The former type of power might not last for ever because the advantage might be lost. But the force in a man's personality is an attribute that is perhaps destined to be with him for his entire life, if not more.

If you are not a nature lover, perhaps you are a person not at peace with himself. And you are not a nature lover if you are a person who doesn't love animals( not necessarily the PETA brand of affection though).
I'm an avid animal lover, and I just adore pets. Now my parents never allowed dogs and cats as they required much attention, but in retrospect, it meant that I had the craziest and weirdest collection I could have ever had. I had a collection of tortoises, all shapes and sizes of ugly birds and fish- both edible and the aquarium variety. But the guys which fascinated me the most were the squirrels.
I had an entire collection of them- once up to four of them simultaneously. They are a treat to watch, and i would often spend hours just lazying around watching their antics. They can be extremely playful with humans, require very little care and are ready to eat almost anything and everything that's offered. In fact they adore food that's oily and unhealthy for them.
I have done some of the craziest things with them. I once made a 200km up and down trip on a crowded local train with a squirrel in my trouser pocket. Another time I cycled for 2kms with a squirrel asleep under my shirt collar. I once even tried to give a nice refreshing bath to one, but was bitten in the attempt(the only time one of them did). They were no losers though. They chewed up the ends of my spectacles, tried their teeth on anything wooden and one shredded up a cherished globe. One even sneaked into the loo and managed to fall into the toilet seat!!
So if this has impressed you, get yourself a squirrel, i assure you will never regret it. I would just put up one request, DO NOT put it in a cage, cause they do not belong there.

Engineering is undoubtedly amongst the most desirable undergraduate courses available. But I often come across engineers/engineering students who are into engineering for every conceivable reason other than the one reason that would justify it- They love being engineers. Well, it's definitely lucrative as a career option with all those heavy salaries and exposure and blah blah, but if it's not something that a person would have chosen to be even without that salary, then perhaps he would never be at peace with his choice. And as someone has rightly said, if you are really good at something, there will always be someone to pay you handsomely for doing it. So why waste four years of your life doing something your heart doesn't want you to??