3 years, 148 posts and counting

So as the month of January draws to a close, I celebrate the third anniversary of my blog. Its been 36 months of intermittent blogging.

In all I have exact 148 published posts which comes down to just under one post a week. Not bad at all.

I had very few readers back then and I still have very few readers now. Some people stumble onto the block now and then.

Anyway I also had to honour a few readers. Actually just one to be precise. Heena (not sure of a surname. Goes by Life of Pi also), runs away with the awards for the best reader, most consistent commenter and also the yearly achievement award for hanging onto the blog despite the fact I take regular arbitrarily long breaks from blogs. So many others have come but they mostly wander off. Sakhee shows some promise but that only time will tell. We give her the best newcomer award.

Anyway I will again state what I have already written so many times earlier " that writing is an escape". This blog has allowed me the escape from the mundane, been a vent for so many of the frustrations , a blank paper where I imagine my dreams ,shape my hopes and ambitions but most of all has been a place where I have at times shared stuff that few people I know. I feel my secrets are safe because the person who labours and reads the post deserves the occasional secrets he/she comes across.

To the rare person who will come across this post randomly or otherwise, thanks for being here.

Come back some time again and you just might enjoy a bit.

toodles

The Chauvinism of Culture

So we had the most shameful incident happening on India's republic eve when members of a right wing Hindu group called the 'Shri Ram Sena' brutally attacking and molesting girls in a pub in the city of Mangalore. Because the attack got filmed by the media a huge outrage has occurred with most people condemming it. However members of the Ram Sena especially the president of the organization remain unapologetic calling themselves "custodians of the Indian culture".

As someone who sees himself as a male feminist(actually) I am outraged that such a thing could happen, as an Indian I am ashamed that organization like these even exist and we allow them to rule our cities.

If one read tuesday’s newspapers the chief of the organization responsible for attacks openly owes responsibility saying “women should not enter pubs and mix with youths as its against our culture”. There are no regrets.

What this attack will do is terrorize people especially women from going to pubs. The images of women running away in terror and being mishandled will scar so many women. They will be afraid not knowing when they can be attacked. Men can enjoy. For them our Indian culture allows them to drink whether in a bar or in a pub.

On the other hand while the media has played a very negative role in the entire affair, we should not shoot the messenger. The video of the attack ensured that there is such a huge outrage against the attack.

The sad thing is this is just another of a series of incidents showing how intolerant sociey and how willing people in power are to justify violence. We had the sacking of the Bhandarkar Oriental institute, the violence in protests against Taslima Nasreen by an unknown Muslim group, the attacks on North Indians by MNS, the MF Hussain controversy which has ensured India's most famous painter will spend his last days in exile, numerous riots, a painter being jailed in Gujrat(Vadodra) for painting nudes, the protest by the Shiv Sena against Valentines day. The list just goes on. In India its a fashion to get ur will done through violence.

I think we as a nation must stand up and say the mob mentality and vigilantism of any form must not be accepted.

The constitution allows us a right to freedom of expression. The freedom of expression does not allow us to indulge in hate speech or violence of any kind. If the so called ‘moral police’ were so upright they could have peacefully protested outside the pub. The Delhi high court has upheld the right of women to work as bartenders so what is the big deal with women in a pub.

As for the attackers in Mangalore , I suggest hang the basta*** and make an example out of them. On a more serious note, sentence all to minimum ten years of jail and give no bail. There wont be another attack on defenceless girls having their lunch and a drink in a pub.

Else it will continue.

Update-the embedded videos from indiatimes have been removed. Find them if you want to.

Obama is the president

So I ended up watching the inaugration on internet live. Lovely speech though I liked his pre inaugral speech of a day before better.

Barack Obama is looking at the bigger picture and his call to be united to instill a spirit of service was just that. Here are the best lines from his speech according to me.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned.

As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

Hurray!! Bush will be gone today and we will have Obama

I feel so releived Bush is gone and we have Obama coming in.

In place of the neo-cons we have a leader elected by overwhelming majority who ran on a broadly liberal agenda, whose message was always of understanding.

Its a powerful message of what humans can achieve. That even in the darkest of times we can hope to overcome hate and blind ignorance.

I can't help but be optimistic about Barack Hussein Obama. I will reserve doubt for another time. Today is just not the day.

He brings hope.

Cheers!! Hic

Warner Brothers ki aisi taisi

So I saw a movie that set a new benchmark for hindi movies. The tragedy is its not new heights but new lows.

So I saw Chandni Chowk to China yesterday. And I can definitely say its one of the worst ER saw. It was a movie where when we finally had the break, people actually wished it was the ending and felt pity for themselves that there was another hour plus of the movie left.

The story is quite senseless. It withers, walllows and meanders.

The biggest issue is the movie director could not figure out which genre he was creating.
Its like a senseless comedy and a major tragedy all combined and rapid changes between the two formats. It appears to be a film for kids, yet a kid sitting in the row front literally begged his mom to take him back home. The so called Hollywood special effects are quite pathetic excuses for stunts. The good and bad guardian angels on a persons shoulders went out of fashion after JFK's time.

I wonder which idiot critic gave it it 4.5 stars. For me,I would demand compensation for the time wasted watching the senseless crap.

Avoid it. Unless you have nothing to do.

Hell! Avoid it even then.

SATYAMgate

Q.) How do you blow all your money in a day?

A.) Invest in a company called Satyam.

Over the last few weeks we had the Satyam saga unfolding in front of us.

A company which was the recepient of the prestigious "Golden Peacock" award for corporate world with over 2 billion dollars in the bank as reserves decided to buy Maytas infrastructure in a surprise move which smack of the promoter misusing company funds.

But the investors and market baulked, tanking down the share price. The management reneged on the deal but the damage had been done. The share prices were so low that a takeover seem imminent. A large number of shares were being bought by two or three companies.

Then one morning the promoter writes a letter saying all the cash reserves were imaginary and the books had been cooked for decades.
.
It was over.

The prices went below the face value. In one mement all the talk of the IT sector as a shining example of corporate governance was over.

So now as the investigators pick through the debris, I wonder how will SATYAMgate affect the Indian IT outsourcing industry.

Now some people beleive it will scare companies away from India and its all doomed.

I beg to differ.

Satyamgate is nothing more than Enron for India. Or maybe a Madoff.
Its a bad scandal but it just shows mighty are greedy and weak.

Unlike what Heena says on her blog, call-centers are just a small part of the out sourcing story. The bigger picture is in IT where new development, testing and more importantly maintenance projects are being handled by big IT companies like Infosys, Wipro, etc.

Maintenace especially cannot be stopped or easily shifted to others. So the thing is projects will stay. We save a lot of money for the companies which as Bank of America's chairman said allows them to expand around the world.

And today the indian IT industry has built up an expertise which cannot be easily matched.
Also SATYAMs demise is other IT companies gain as client will shift. I can tell you some have been gained even when there is no active poaching
The situation is bad because of recession but its not apocalyptic.

On a random note


Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Musings

So I am back to my old ways, musing about love. I am sitting wiith my laptop at around midnight savouring a glass of grape juice which if I was in a more ruminating mood would transform into a glass of the finest Bordeaux wines(Nope, I dont drink but imagination unlimited is the theme).
Anyway so I was remembering this line that I read somewhere and have loved ever sense."There are only three things men can do with women-love them,suffer for them or turn them into literature."
I excel at all three. I should add tragically.

However when love is not returned, when it has been shunned beyond redemption, why do people not quit? Why dont they realize the story is not meant to be written and try to move on?

In the name of love many people start harbouring wild fantasies.Love turns into harrassment, stalking and so many other things. I am not a gal but if I was one, I am sure I would feel very insecure because of a jilted wannabe romeo(On other hand if I was a gal, and if the user interface was the same I would be one scary gal.I am not sure guys would be falling left and write). write=right

Jokes apart we have had so many acid throwing incidents in India recently. Imagine the pain,the smell of acid burning whatever it touches. I have no sympathy for any of the throwers. I beleive they should get the death penalty with no exception. Because this is no crime of passion but a cold-hearted plot to ensure no one else gets the girl he could not get. He forgets if he choose to love and fall for the girl,the girl exercised her choice and choose not to reciprocate. But in a country of a billion where every 8 men collectively carry the guilt of a a single missing girl,killed in the womb of another girl, men frequently forget the girl has a choice. Its in the soil(deep sarcasm intended). Feel some shame people!!

Anyway ,I cant end on such a negative note. So here's the story of Marilyn Monroe and Joe Dimaggio,her second husband. Imagine a love so deep, a loss so huge.

In 1951 Joe DiMaggio saw a picture of Monroe with two Chicago White Sox players but did not ask the man who arranged the stunt to set up a date until 1952. She wrote in My Story that she did not want to meet him, fearing a stereotypical jock. They eloped at San Francisco's City HallJanuary 14, 1954. She wrote him a letter about her dreams for their future, dated February 28, 1954.

It did not work out. She filed for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty 274 days after the wedding.

Years later, she turned to him for help. In February 1961, her psychiatrist arranged for her to be admitted to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, where, according to Donald Spoto, she was placed in the ward for the most seriously disturbed. Unable to check herself out, she called DiMaggio, who secured her release. She later joined him in Florida. Their "just good friends" claim did not stop rumors of remarriage.

On August 1, 1962, DiMaggio — alarmed by how his ex-wife had fallen in with people he felt detrimental to her, such as Frank Sinatra and his "Rat Pack" — quit his job with a PX supplier to ask her to remarry him.

After her death, he claimed her body and arranged her funeral, barring Hollywood's elite. For twenty years, he had a dozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week. Unlike her other two husbands, he never talked about her publicly, wrote a tell-all, or remarried.

The story ends for 2008 but November 2009 is the final date.

So my CAT 08 result finally arrived and I had not made the cut as last year. And the overall percentile was lower than last year by about 1.5. Not bad but not good enough for me or for the IIMs.

Whil I always held out hope but I knew getting a call this year would have been too much about luck. Because I had training in my job during Aug-Oct, I just did not prepare. So its all in a days work.

But CAT 09 to be held in November 09 is my final attempt. By that time I would have sufficient work experience. The stage would be set.

The work would start soon. Hard work has to meet luck to end up at the right place. And I cannot depend upon english section. I need to get data interpretation and quant solid. I might also give GMAT but that is another post. another day bye

Happy New Year

This is wishing everyone a happy new year and hoping that the coming year will bring you loads of joy and happiness. May the year exceed all your expectations. Amen