The procession never began

Shobhayatra - A hard hitting satire on the current society and how people's values today are totally different from the national leaders who gave us Independence. How people exploit others and certain social situations to turn the tide in their favour. This is the gist of the play Shobhayatra which debuted in the Prithvi Theatre festival.The story is about 5 people who are to play the roles of Gandhiji, Pandit Nehru, Subhashchandra Bose, Lokmanya Tilak and Jhansi Ki Rani. They are dressed up as these leaders and they are to go on a procession to mark the country's fifty years of Independence.

As the play moves forward we learn that the procession is actually organised by a DON and how each is totally different from the character he is playing. The man playing Gandhiji wants a chilled Pepsi and advises his son to stay put in the US. Pandit Nehru's character acts fresh with the Indian girl and acts as if he does not like anything Western though in his mind, he is interested in an American girl (who depicts the irresistible seductions of the affluent west) who is his daughter's age. The man playing the role of Lokmanya Tilak has leaked the exam papers and has got caught and tries to keep promoting regionalism. The actor who has donned the role of Subashchandra Bose is the Don's lawyer. There are other important characters like Jhansi ki Rani, the small boy who delivers tea to the actors, the Don's men etc. It is not like a typical movie where a solution is given but each has realised that he has done something wrong.

All in all a nice play that gives a message and at the same time makes you laugh.

End of an Era

The US open 2006 was more than just another tournament this time. Aggasi announced that it would be his last tournament. His retirement news got a lot of high profile publicity. I was more saddened that it was Navratilova's last tournament as well but glad that she retired on a winning note.
She is truly a great athlete. She had a superb all round game and a long innings as well. It is difficult to keep going for years together with the same dedication and determination when your health falters (you cannot play at 40 as you can play at 20 and it is difficult for a human to accept that, play with that and Win with that))
Look at some of the statistics that ascertain the fact that Martina is truly a remarkable athlete.

She has -
- Won 167 singles titles
- Won 176 doubles titles
- Won 20 titles at Wimbledon including nine singles
- a WIN -LOSE match record of 1,440-213 !!!

30 cheers for martina...(three is too less a number.)

Mela

Sutton Fair and Horse Show - An annual event here in Ontario, Canada since the 1850s. We got a chance to visit this country fair.
It was a unique experience.The fair is a perfect blend of the past and the present. There are stalls for smart meters and solar heaters along with a fun farm displaying sheep, cows and ducks.There were rides like the Giant wheel, Bumper Cars along with Pig races and duck races!Yes I witnessed a duck race as well as a pig race. Now I would have never even thought of something like this in Bombay let alone see something like this.The races were over in a jiffy. It was fun to watch the ducks and pigs trying to overtake each other and scramble to the finish line.
The races were just one aspect of this fair. There were lots of events happening like the Horse Carriage Driving competition, a petting zoo, Spelling Bee contest, Scrabble Contest etc.
The fair is not only about entertainment. It is a glimpse into the agricultural heritage of the town and also a look at as to how things have changed since the first fair in 1850s.The fair attracts people in huge numbers. It is a perfect day out for families and friends. People could easily spend a whole day in the fair playing games, looking at the various stalls, looking at horse shows, animal farms etc.
I am glad that I got a chance to witness this one of a kind fair which gives you a peek into the past and at the same time keeps the present in mind and manages to give you a good time.

Severn Falls – The Falls that were never really the falls

I am in Canada with my colleagues for a project. Canada is extremely picturesque. There is a lot of greenery all around. You can make a picnic basket, find a picnic spot in the countryside and have a great time. That is exactly what we did on a bright sunny day. We saw the map and found two places that sounded exciting - Severn Falls and Swift Rapids.

With dreams of swift rapids in a river and waterfalls, we left for our picnic spot.
It was a 2 hour drive from our hotel. The drive towards the countryside was scenic. Quaint little houses, green farms, tall green trees, fresh flowers, bright blue sky, clouds like cotton stretched and spread across the sky. I have only read about such things in novels. But I saw all this in Ontario, Canada.

As we were driving, we were keeping an eye on the road signs and every time we would see a road sign for Severn Falls, we would all get excited. We were wondering how close we could go to the waterfalls. We were geared up with our cameras to take pictures.

After some time we realized that the signposts no more pointed to Severn Falls. We were a tad disappointed. Unlike in India, you really cannot just stop your car on the road or honk at another vehicle and ask for directions. You have to park 'properly' and then ask only if you manage to find people standing or walking which is a little unusual here. Since the signposts stopped showing the way to Severn falls we decided to turn back...

On our way back, we stopped at a tourist spot, parked our car and asked one person about Severn falls...This is what he said - It is just a waterfall during spring. It forms when the snow melts and falls down from a higher altitude. We were disappointed. Our trip to find the waterfall ended in finding out it was never really a waterfall.

We did manage to find other picnic spots around the place and did have fun that day. But the Severn falls were the falls that were not really the waterfalls we thought they will be.

Letter to PM

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

I remember I had been happy when you got elected as the Prime Minister of our country. I had been glad that a politician of high intellect, capability and a clean image could lead our country and represent us in the World.

But your rigid stance on the reservation issue saddens me. Do you really think reservations are going to help the underprivileged? Do you really think reservations in graduation and post graduation levels will help the cause of education in our country?

Though I do not want to believe this, but this stand merely seems to be for vote collection.

The pro-reservation stand will only cause more divisions in our society. Rampant printing of certificates to prove that one is from the reserved sections will become/has already become a big business. There will soon be a situation where one would feel that there is no harm in getting a certificate. One would think one can use it just in case he/she does not make the merit list (with more and more reservations, it is more likely that getting a seat via a 'reserved category' certificate will be easier than getting one on merit).
It makes the sections that are banking on getting into colleges through merit truly "weak".
If you really want to reserve seats, why disallow the creamy layer from getting their right to reservation. Is it their fault that they made money and their brethren did not? So I can make either money or remain poor and get a seat in college of my choice???

Please reconsider your decision

Regards,
Vidz

Going Backwards..

Every section of the society is hell bent on making our country as regressive as possible. You disagree with me... Take a look at the recent incidents-

Jaggu and Tarana on radio have gone Hindi all the way. It is not that I am anti-Hindi but they just don't sound like the original Jaggu and Tarana. Why can't we have a healthy mix of everything?

Certain groups are asking for a ban on the Da Vinci Code movie. Why cannot people just treat it as a piece of fiction and take a decision for themselves whether they want to see or not see it??

Reservations - There is no better way than this to go back in time, No better way than this to divide our country. I am glad that there are protests against this.

Ban westernwear from colleges. - This is going on for quite sometime. . Give me a break. Is western wear really gonna harm our Culture?? Is our culture so fragile that clothes will be able to destroy it?? Are miscreants going to stop their acts if our women wear only Indian clothes?? I really do not think so.

The PC speaketh...

Oh! My slave has come and he has turned me on already. He is late to work by 19 minutes and 23 seconds. Maybe because he was working till late last night.

Well there he goes to check his mails. I know his routine so well...
He will first open Microsoft Outlook to check mails. Then he will log on to the IM and reply to a couple of offline messages.
Then he will open his personal mailbox and check them. Forward a couple of silly forwards.
Next he gets up to get some coffee for himself. He better be careful. He spilt it on my keyboard yesterday. That thing is so hot.
Okay. There comes his Manager. Now he gets to work. He does less of typing and more of control+ C and control +V

Chief!! Don’t abuse me...you don’t code properly then abuse me.
This is another thing I detest. When anything does not work he has to abuse me, bang my keyboard and the mouse. The intensity increases as the day passes.

I am just a dumb machine you are supposed to be the most intelligent creature in the world. So it is your job to make stuff work and not abuse me.
I know a lot about him from the websites he keeps visiting.
I know his interests, likes, questions in his life, his taste in music

Of course he is not the only slave that I have had. I had slaves before him also.
Oh yes..I forgot, today is a Friday. Most of these guys have a five day week. I can rest for the next two weeks and get a break from this guy banging my keyboard.

Why do I call him my slave?? He will have no work if it was not for me and therefore no money.
He seems so lost and just does not know what to do when I breakdown or refuse to obey to his commands. He gets so restless HA! HA! I feel so good then. It always feels nice to see that one is so important. Hey we machines have feelings and egos too.

I better get back to some processing now...Bye

Counting Sheep

I am sure most of you have heard of the old tale, that when you can't get sleep in the night, one of the methods is to count sheep jumping over the fence. I tried it yesterday. But it was not really working.
I decided to make this a little interesting. I replaced each sheep's face with a Bollywood actor's face and imagined how the jump would be.

Shahrukh Sheep - It went and jumped landed on the fence. Did a little jig came back on this side and jumped again to land on the other side.

Hritik Sheep - Flexed its leg muscles and jumped. It was the farthest and most graceful leap

Vivek Sheep - Came with a mike in its mouth and with lots of bleating about it jumped. But its leg hit the fence and hurt itself. One leg had to be bandaged.

Salman Sheep - Came in full force and jumped landed on Vivek Sheep and punched the daylights out of him

Aamir Sheep - Came towards the fence slowly. Took a long look at the fence. Went back. Thought for sometime. Calculated the height of the fence length of run-up etc. etc. and finally jumped. It was considered the most perfect jump. All the other sheep were sleeping by then.

Sunny Sheep - Came towards the fence broke it, walked past it.

Good Night!

In 2006....

I Wish for

a little more peace
a little more friendship
no natural calamities
no man made calamities
more empathy
less apathy
two square meals for every hungry mouth
two less worry lines on your forehead

a smile on your face when you retire to bed

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

What Kind of Rocker are You?

You Are an Emo Rocker!

Expressive and deep, lyrics are really your thing. That doesn't mean you don't rock out... You just rock out with meaning. For you, rock is more about connecting than grandstanding.

What Kind of RoCker are yOu

Dance

Dance - a form of expression, a stress buster, a group activity.
I have often observed in college parties, office parties and other places people and their dance. I can classify people in the following categories-

1) Enthusiastic dancers - These people are just waiting for the music to start. They start moving their feet (two left or right) at the start of the party and continue till the end of the party. If it were not for these dancers, the party would have never kicked off. Here again there are the first movers and the non-first movers. The non-first movers are equally enthusiastic about dancing but do not want to hit the dance floor first. As soon as there is some crowd in the dance floor, they make their move.
2) Good Movers - These dance enthusiastically and well and are the life of the dance party. They might just intimidate the not so good dancers with their cool moves.
3) Not so good movers - They really don’t know the 'Right steps' but are pretty enthusiastic bring life to the party and dance throughout.
4) Wannabe pulled dancers - There are a group of people who do want to dance. They are standing in their place and tapping their feet, but are either too shy to go to the dance floor or need a bit of cajoling and persuasion by the others to hit the dance floor.
5) Stiff feet - They stand far away from the dance floor hoping never to be pulled to the dance floor

So which group do you belong to?

When People become Strangers

Why is it that so often in our city when a person is murdered in his house; the next door neighbours come to know about it three days later, that too because of the stench of death.
Are we moving towards total isolation?

In today's age of Chat, SMS and virtual gaming, we are losing touch with people in 'real time'.
Chat sure expresses everything but slowly but surely people are going to find real time communication difficult. Surveys have proved that people are increasingly becoming better at non face-to-face communication and avoiding real meetings.
Have you see the offices today? People are there much beyond their working hours. Yes many are really working but many are sitting in office, as they have nothing to do going back to their homes. They surf; they chat they read. Should they not be meeting real people?

People are increasingly using SMS to break up a relation!!!?? How can a relation..something so Real so full of emotions be broken by a text message. Are we scared of facing reality?

Kids are supposed to be playing outside in playgrounds and parks not sitting in front of a PC. Yes it does improve hand eye coordination, it improves logic but this is of no use at the cost of a healthy childhood.

One theory suggests that increased use of the Internet leads to loneliness. Today we are using the Internet so much that it can lead to psychological disorders.

It is said Man is a social animal. I hope we do not get into the trap of too much of technology that this statement becomes irrelevant.

Run

I ran and ran and ran...Maybe these are too many 'rans' for a 4.5 km marathon. But for someone like me who does not really have the habit of running nor any strict fitness regime, so many 'rans' do qualify.
It was organized by the Rotary club in aid of cancer patients. It was for a good cause and I wanted to see if I was upto a run like this.
I am glad I did something for a good cause and am happy that I was able to complete the race. I was huffing and puffing within 200 m of the race and I thought I will never make it. But with a combination of running and brisk walking, I managed to cross the finish line.

HIGHLIGHTS
There was a lot of participation for a good cause on a SUNDAY morning
There were many participants in the Under 18 category.
Many elders (over 45) had participated and most of them completed the race.
It was pretty well organized.
I completed the race :)

True Story

Me : Typing username in the application developed by my company. The username I am typing is 'xxxxx' .

Colleague: Wow! How did you encrypt your username ??!!

Smile :-)

Q. What do you call a mallu kid who sticks his nose into other people's business?

A. Pokemon!!!!!

A mail sent by Dean IIT Madras

Dear Friends,

Here is a personal experience, as well as a moment of national pride, which I want to share with you. Hope you find it worth the time you put in reading it :"In the middle of 1965 India-Pakistan war, US govt - then a close friend of Pakistan - threatened India with stopping food-aid (remember"PL-480"?).

For a food deficient India this threat was serious and humiliating. So much so that in the middle of war, Prime Minister (Late) Lal Bahadur Shastri went to Ram Leela Grounds in Delhi and appealed to each Indian to observe one-meal-fast every week to answer the American threat. As a school boy, I joined those millions who responded to Shastriji's call. I continued the fast even when the war was over and India became self sufficient in food. Hurt deep by the national humiliation suffered at the hands of the US govt, I had vowed to stop my weekly fast only when India starts giving aid to USA. It took just 40 years. Last week THE day arrived. When Indian ambassador in Washington DC handed over a cheque of US$ 50 million to the US govt, two plane loads of food, medical aid and other relief materials were waiting to fly to the USA. Time to break the fast? With no bad feeling about the USA, and good wishes for the Katrina victims, this humble Indian feels proud of the distance India has covered in 40 years. Let's celebrate a New India!"

iRoNiC

Ganesh Chaturthi celebrated ardently by all communities
Increasing demand for community based housing colonies

Page 3 parties till wee hours of the morning
People going back to their homes in far flung suburbs after a hard day's work late in the night

People eating and wasting food in squeaky clean 5 * restaurants
Children searching for food in garbage bins

Affluent families having one car for each member
Commuters fighting for every inch of space in local trains

Flooded roads during the rains
Long queues made daily by people to get water.

People extending a hand to strangers in adversity
People watching and just walking away from accidents and crimes

India Unbound

I was not very fond of reading books with economy and/or history as the subject. But this book has opened my mind to that genre of books as well...

India Unbound - Gurcharan Das

It is an interesting mix of his personal life, the country's economic, Social and Political Environment from his boyhood days till he became the chairman of P&G
The book is interspersed with little anecdotes like his meeting with Galbraith, his grandfather's view of the British Raj leaving India, Nehru's charisma, the lady in the village who had an innovative way of using his company's product.
He has given a vivid account of the liberalization process and the people involved in it.
There is also a narrative on the current economic progress of the country and his opinion of the current and future economic environment of the country. He has also written about the IT boom in India and compares it to the Industrial Revolution in Europe.

This book definitely qualifies as a 'Must Read'. Once you have finished the book, you can and would want to glance through the book once in a while.

My result. Check out your Matrix Persona!!



You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Skewed Ratio

India is happening now. The Sensex is soaring..reaching new heights. India is the hot destination be it investments, tourism or Business Outsourcing. Our music, movies, art and culture are being embraced worldwide.Our economy is doing well. People have much more disposable income in their hands. Indians are spending a lot of money.

So is India really shining? I do not think so...Unless the women are treated on par with men in the society, the society has a lot of catching up to do before we can say India shines.India has a dismal sex ratio. The more appalling fact here is that the sex ratio has gone down from 972 to 1000 in 1901 to 941 in 1961 to 933 in 2001. It is sad that this downward trend is taking place in light of all the development and progress in the country.

Recently a movie depicted society with scarcity of women. Some might write off the movie saying it is too unbelievable. But that could be a possibility if we do not stop girl infanticide and foeticideMind you, this does not happen only in the rural areas. It is as rampant among the 'Educated' urbanites.The government has come up with a lot of initiatives in terms of women and girl child development programmes. Many corporate groups have also initiated programmes to elevate the status of the girl child and for empowerment of rural women. But unless there is an awakening among the general public, these programmes will not have the desired effect.
Is education the answer? I am not very sure. Female foeticde is rampant in the metros all over the country. Obviously these people have some level of education. How much can you educate people?? People have to realize from within that she is not a 'curse'. They have to realize that it is a crime to indulge in such cruel activities. There has to be an integrated social awakening to the fact that injustice is meted out to the girl child and that it has to be stopped.
We should change our mindset towards women.

Next time, let us not frown at the birth of a girl in our family (near or far).
Let all the parents give the girl children the same love and affection and take care of her needs just as they would take care of the son.
Let us encourage her to get an education and seek financial independence.
Let us not treat the girl as a burden that has to be passed on in marriage for dowry and marriage expenses.
When a girl is getting married into our family, let us not expect nor accept gifts in cash and kind. These things are definitely not rocket science and can be carried out by all.
But I guess human greed and evil in the garb of tradition ingrained in the society for a long time thwarts the awakening.