Victory!!

There is nothing that beats success and there is nothing more mesemerising than watching your country win. The gold medal distribution, the national anthem, the tricolor make you not only a proud citizen but there's a certain nostalgic feeling that creeps in as well. Your mind is subjected to a flashback mechanism, where you tend to remember the team's win in the quaters, then the semis and the finals and convince yourself that your watching all these matches really helped. Tears of joy(although guys hate to admit this) roll down your cheeks...but the feeling just doesnt stop there,u also realize how close the match was.You start admiring the losing team for how well they fought and if it had been their day, they would have surely landed on the wining side.

As distinct as it may sound, the difference between victory and defeat is really subtle. Every single moment makes a difference. One outstanding day and u are the next kid on the block and one bad miss makes u a loser for life. One raised finger, signifying the departure of Sachin Tendulkar, breaks a million hearts. One grave mistake costs u a seat at one of the prestigious institutes u always dreamt of. One streak of"good luck" might change your life where as one wrong decision might continue to plague you for life.

With the fear of sounding "philosophical",as my sister would say, life is an unscripted piece of drama. A drama where the difference between victory and success doesnt count at all, its the result that counts. Who cares if u lose a match by 2 runs or 200. A look at the medals tally in the ongoing Asian Games tells us that of the 53 medals we won, just nine of them were Gold. We happened to be among the top 3, 53 times, but won just 9 Golds. Had we converted even half of those chances into fullproof victories, we would have been among the top 4 countries in Asia. A right marriage decision and your life's blissiful where as a wrong one could make this place a hell. There are times when one is very close to victory,literally on the verge of winning, but being close enough isnt gud enough. You need to have that extraaa pull. Bhaktyar might have lost the competition by just half a mark, but what matters is that he lost. Soccer World cup semifinals saw Germany winning in the last few seconds(mili seconds actually), however gud Italy played, the record says that they lost. One bad mistake and all their effort was down the drain. A dear friend flunked a viva by just half a mark.Imagine, half a mark making all the difference. An extra second, me marking that 4 mark question and i wouldnt ve been writing this post.

Life is a series of objective exams. And according to a computer scientist, these objective exams would follow a binary system. Its either 0 or 1, Yes or No. According to a mathematician, life would be a chain of events victory and defeat, each mutually exclusive of the other. While there is unbridled celebration on one side, sadly, there is complete devastation on the other. There is no scope for that "0.5" or a "close yes".

This must ve happened with all of us( it happened with me, so there is no reason why it wldnt ve happened wid u). One event could have resulted in to u leading a better life, being an altogether different person. You might have missed the magical figure by just a whisker, but it hurts when you realise that. You cry over the lost oppurtunity,the days u took it easy,you curse your fate. More importantly what we dont realize is that it was the fate that we chose ourselves.


Let us not let "fate" govern our lives..lets drive failure out of our lives.. lets not suffer that pain again..and lets enjoy the journey..the more we enjoy the journey, the sooner/safer we reach our destination.. :)


PS: Arpit insists that he was in the right frame of mind when he wrote this. Though, the author isnt very sure :D :D
Even if u found this post to be totally bakwaas...plz post your valuable feedback..

17 Questions!!

Its been quite a while since I posted nd if u thought i was dead, i am sorry to say that u were almost right. As a part of the recovery procedure, the doctor has asked me to blog regularly nd thts the reason why m here.See, i would have preferred to swallow the bitter pill rather than blog(given how indolent i am), but the doctor wouldnt budge. So, by the time i recuperate and come out with something insanely stupid...here are some random questions(most of them unintelligent..jus like me) to ponder on.


1. Why are the passengers supposed to get down a CNG bus, when it undergoes refuelling?

2. Why do guys hate Emraan Hashmi?

3. What is linfosarcoma? I wish i could die of the "linfosarcoma of the eye".

4. Why are most of the girls on orkut "committed"?

5. When and why did the idea of materialistic consumption come into place?

6. Does James Bond derive all his energies/powers from sex?

7. Is Swami Ramdev a "sanyaasi"? The other day when I was at the Pune airport to recieve my sister, noticed a certain Mr. Ramdev being driven in a Limo and a fleet of other expensive vehicles acting as escorts.

8. What is the similarity between a waiter and an astrologer? Don't both act obsequiously towards the person thats gonna foot their bill!!

9. How can a political party treat religion as their personal property? Why does every(or atleast most) temple in Pune has a shiv sena poster on its compound walls?

10. What drives Reality Television? Its been an year nd i am still trying to answer this. How on earth could Qazi Tauqeer win Fame Gurukul (gud..if u never heard of it...because tht means u never wasted ur time watching it!)

11. The BIG one!! Why do people Study?????????????

12. What actually is "cool"? More on this later...

13. Why does my computer run better on a pirated copy of the Windows??

14. Why is the word "cakewalk" called so? Believe me, i tried to walk on a cake, only to find my foot stuck and not to mention the bashing that i recieved from my Mom.

15. Who, yes people, who on earth watches INDIA TV??

16.Why did I write this? Have I run out of questions? No, not yet, there are many more to come,sometime later.

17. Since u made the mistake of reading this crap, how about answering these questions as well as leaving a comment?

So now, since you ve read this post, u know what questions to ask on your first date :D :D

British form of Colonialism in India

Its been a while(in fact more than a while) since i ve posted here and as a friend says,procrastination was the key. i know serious stuff isnt my "cup of tea"(i prefer coffee instead),but here's an attempt to analyse the British form of colonialism in India and the intelligent game that was played between the British and the Indian nationalists.

The British form of colonialism in India was remarkably different from the ones practiced in Africa, Australia and America. While the British administrators believed in getting more intimate with the people elsewhere, either through the distribution of gifts or by their policies, they were all set to conquer the minds of the people residing in the subcontinent.

Colonialism in India was a state of economic hegemony. It aimed not at grabbing land, but the markets present in those lands. It was state of dominance resulting in exploitation and repression of the colonized. Colonialism in India is often misconceived as the victory of the military rule. Actually, the British colonialism in India owes its success to the soft expressions of control. These are what Dirks calls the ‘investigative modalities’ which the British used to classify, categorize, order and fix the identity of ‘India’ from the landmass, population, culture and traditions it represented. Colonialism was thus a project of control which was executed in the form of several gazetteers, archaeological expeditions, surveys, the census and other government reports. It were the minds of the people that the British colonized, be it through knowledge, education or science. Michel Foucault theory statement that knowledge is power is clearly visible with respect to the British colonial state; it was only the knowledge of the native which was instrumental in their ability to govern effectively. The British seek to establish a kind of panopticon state where they had the know how of the all the activities around them.

It started with activity of learning administrative control and inheriting the political knowledge of Indian rulers and thus began attempts to know the land as under the revenue department. To know the land became an attempt to know the people tilling it, the people supported on that land and so started the full fledged accounts to understand the economic structures, socio-cultural differences, linguistics, religions, extensive narratives about the caste and domestic organizations.

The British weren’t here to “civilize” India but to create a mindset that they were far better people and it was their duty to civilize the “savages”. Their primary motive was to make profits. In order to gain acceptance among the people, they played into the hands of the existing caste system. Pride was never a concern for them, it were always the policies that mattered. British revived the learning of Sanskrit in India to move towards the Brahminical class.

Public buildings, palaces and fortified post of district and public administration built by the previous rulers were left almost completely unused by the British. Instead of occupying the traditional office buildings, the British created cantonment areas. In 1757 a dual system of government was established which comprised of the city and the cantonment. The British stayed in the cantonment and it was here that the laws were made. This served two purposes. Since it were the cantonments that were the centre of power and authority; the cities started fearing the cantonment. Secondly, this provided British an opportunity to boast of their racial superiority in order to vent their economic interests. British insisted on having no emotional relationship with the Indians, it was pure economic gains that they desired. British Cantonments hindered the intimate contact between the British and the Indians and hence the realization that the British were ordinary people (just like them) came in very late. Cantonment was an institution of fear based on the foundation of social racism. The insecurity of the British to protect their racial superiority can be gauged from the impositions on the serving British Officers. The British officers were asked to leave the country after a certain age, so as not to expose their fallacies of old age. This brought along the illusion that the British race was always healthy, full of vitality masculinity and power. Unmarried women, unless they were sisters of high ranked British officers, weren’t allowed to visit the country. British displayed a keen interest in making the cultural relation completely non-productive. To add to the precautionary measures, barracks in the cantonment had no partition so as to alleviate the fear of a conspiracy being hatched.

British completed the task of colonization of the minds of Indians by imparting “Western education”. Scholars like Raja Ram Mohan Roy persuaded the British to impart English education in India. Notable in this regard was the contribution of Thomas Macaulay. Gradually, a perception was created which regarded knowledge of the colonizers to be far superior from those of the colonies. Literature from England was termed to be logical where as the Indian literature was either condemned or ignored. British form of colonization influenced our ability to distinguish between inferior and superior goods. Any thing coming from England was perceived as a boon. Much inferior goods from the colonizers were sold at a premium.

Colonialism was in fact a massive thrust towards gaining native knowledge of the colonized and applying it to subjugating him. For e.g. it involved for the British to study the plant life of India, carrying out botanical surveys. At a glance it might appear to be just a scientific, purely objective study of nature but it was also an instrument of exercising economic control for it entailed them to grow cash crops. Indigo farming or tea plantations and the eventual exploitation were a direct result of such knowledge endeavors. What colonialism did to India was not only to replace the ruler from brown to a white man but to try to destroy whatever pockets of local native knowledge existed.

The fight against the rule was stemmed by ways of reacquiring the lost knowledge systems and an attempt was made to reset the balance. The Indian National Congress in 1885 consisted mainly of lawyers, journalists, businessman, landowners and professors and one of their initial demands was for equality in opportunity for Indians to enter into Indian Civil Service by introduction of simultaneous exams in India and England. What we see here are basically middle class intellectuals, who thrive on knowledge based occupations asking for their right of access to the knowledge the British had which they used to govern the country. The Indian freedom struggle was thus led not by peasants, not by armed sepoys but by learned men who understood the importance that knowledge had in their ability to get back the freedom of their nation. Thus, started the game of politics of knowledge played between the Indian freedom fighters and the imperial authorities.

As a protest against Lord Curzon’s partition of Bengal in 1905, on the lines of the policy of “divide and rule” as an attempt to control the budding nationalist activity in Bengal, British manufactured goods were boycotted and huge bonfires of Lancashire goods and British cloth were lit arousing memories of Vedic sacrificial fires. The movement soon spread out to other parts of the country and efforts began in promoting indigenous industry. Hand spun cloth, khadi became the symbol of Indian struggle against the factory produced fine cloth. The swadeshi movement soon stimulated indigenous enterprise in many fields, from Indian cotton mills to match factories, glassblowing shops, and iron and steel foundries. Demands for national education followed and students boycotted the English schools and colleges. Bal Gangadar Tilak and Gokhale were pioneers in establishing Indian education institutes in Deccan. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya founded the Banaras Hindu University in 1910. One of the last major demands to be added to the platform of the Congress in the wake of Bengal's first partition was swaraj. Swaraj was first articulated, in the presidential address of Dadabhai Naoroji, as the Congress' goal at its Calcutta session in 1906.

The economic critique of colonialism was the basis of the Indian national movement. India with its diverse culture and modes of life was united under the British rule under collective economic exploitation and so emerged the ideas of political economy of nationhood. India was reduced to a dumping ground for the British manufactured goods. India was to be only the supplier of raw materials and a market of finished goods. The British rulers in a way destroyed the indigenous industry and made it pay for the upkeep of the Crown in England. The British argument that India was basically an agrarian economy was totally farce, it was only result of British induced deindustrialization, ruralization that had set the clock back and reduced India from being a major world exporter to now dependent on England for even basic consumption goods. The British pointed out that setting up of railways, telegraph networks, irrigation canal systems was a positive work of their towards the development of the nation. The nationalist counter argued the networks are merely instruments of controlling the flow of information and bounded the geographical space of India. The setting of railways in India only resulted in more impoverishment unlike America where it had generated employment and gave rise to opportunities. The task of setting up of the Indian railways was the most expensive in the world and the risk were born by Indian taxpayers. The British portrayed there work as for ‘great public benefit’, but it really meant a more manageable nation, more productivity and more exploitation for the benefit of British trade. The British sought to downplay the industrial growth in India and sought to limit the research in science to be merely ‘pure’ in nature unlike the nationalist for whom the nation was to be visioned in a state actively promoting and applying science and technology. Nobody understood the British better than Gandhi. It was his concept of a Civil Disobedience that sent their quest for economic gains crippling.

The Colonial figures for development always painted a rosier picture of a state of well being; Naoroji countered them with figures of his own and painted out a picture of famines, of indebted peasants and discontent. Thus emerged a parallel statistic body to gather knowledge in order to counter the British claims.

The nationalists rooted demands for stake in the control of power by contesting the knowledge base established by the British. They attempted in Gyan Prakash’s words to ‘rescripting the rationality of colonial governance as the logic of nation’. They tried their hands at controlling the techniques of rule, they tried to adopt technology, science and indigenous knowledge as their counter weapon against the British hegemony and swadeshi was a by product of these efforts.

Since India already had well established administrative and fiscal law, when the Company established its government the problem of making a choice between the traditional legal system and the British legal system had to be faced. Indians manipulated this problem to their advantage beautifully. They would opt for the traditional legal system in instances of quick mutual settlement and choose the British legal system in order to delay the impending judgment.

British Colonial structure in India was a pragmatic attitude in which India was no more than a source of continuous economic gains. Indians developed their own insidious and subversive ways of receiving the alien influence for pragmatic reasons. The fact that British brought in modern ideas and that Indian held on to their traditional ideas, deems both the sides to be successful. British controlled India through law and language whereas the Indian subverted the British by bilingualism and their ability to be comfortable with different, opposite and mutually exclusive behaviour, thought or speech. The cultural pattern, therefore was an elaborate pattern of collaboration and confrontation.

Reference:

1.) Dr. Ganesh Devy- After Amnesia

2.) Ashish Nandy- The Intimate Enemy

3.) Gyan Prakash – Another reason, science and the imagination of Modern India

4.) Nicholas B. Dirks – The Ethnographic State

5.) Bernand S. Cohn – Colonialism & its forms of Knowledge

Acknowledgements:

Dr. Ganesh Devy

Prakhar Amba

Dumb -> Dumber

Last night I had a conversation with my sis where-in she asked me to write about my metamorphosis from a "dumb kid" to what she calls a "cool dude".And here I am writing this, not becasue she was bang on target,not because she was almost right but as always,these sisters are just partially right.If I was dumb as a kid, i ve certainly grown up to be dumber.Dumber not in the sense that I am at loss of words but in a way tht I am into my 20's and still ve a long way to go before i eventually "arrive".

It all began on a rainy day,the 21st of May1986.I am told that it happened to be the last summer in the history of the beautiful valley of Dehradun, when the weather 'God' forced everyone to be wrapped from head to toe.See theres a point behind this.The weather couldnt afford to be cruel anymore as there was this cute kid bringing in warmth and charm.Or was it the pollution and the urbanisation that this "devil" brought along, that made fans and air-coolers sort of mandatory.

And then there was utter chaos.No one in my family had ever gone to an engineering college.Had they ever been tought by the likes of Prof. Banerjee nd his 'Doctor' chelaa the intracacies of naming conventions,it wld ve been a lot easier for them to give me a sound name.There were minor altercations when everyone else was vetoed by my grandpa to name me "Arpit".Man,if you rush thorugh the word in an american accent,doesnt tht sound like an Armpit.Arpit Armpit Dammit!!
Seems like the consensus,if any,was just an interim one.I m called by different names by different set of people.Maa nd Dad differ in the names they use for me nd the same applies to my sister who doesnt even ve the time to blurt out my name as she can scream at my anyways.Name or no name how does it make a difference to her.I ve been into no less than 7 schools nd colleges and ve been rewarded with atleast as many names in each.Infact, if i notice someone using an unfammiliar name,i m pretty sure its me whos been called at.The best part, names change according to the situation at hand.A friend called me adroit in front of a lovely babe when he normally wldnt ve done the same.So nice of u Santa!!

If u think i babble on too much,the first word i ever spoke wasnt Camera,darling,love,sex or f*** either.It was "tooobh lite".And it does make sense.Tube Light,however wierd it may seem,was the only thing i could relate to.Tube Light's first day at school was fun and it was when i started bunking classes as well.Never stayed in the alloted class, instead roamed all around the campus to search for the teacher who used to buy me ice-creams.

It was time, i was shifted to a bigger school and my first day there was fun as well.Fun not for the 'your's sincerely', but the 59 odd other classmates.A teacher(nun) was scribbling on the black board with her back facing the students when someone in the crowd whistled.Now, u dont expect a bunch of Class 2 students who dont know to spell their name properly or even add two digit numbers to come out with such a thing.The class burst into laughter and here was i,coming to terms as to what whistling actually meant.The nun turned back to see that i was the only one not enjoying the fun and was supposedly acting smart.She mistook this dumb chap to be a smart one.Trying to explain that i didnt even know how to whistle,placing the two of my fingers in the mouth and blowing in air... Boy! what a treatment i got.50 canes on my knucles.
Tears rolled over my cheek when a girl came to console me.Needless to say,she was my first friend at school.First friend and that too a girl.Not bad,huhh!!

A week into this school,i was really fed up with this fellow who used to sit next to me.Every time, i fell asleep in the class this SoB used to torture me by inserting a pencil in my nostrils.And it was time that i teach him a lesson the hard way.So next time he repeated the damn chore,i struck my mouth wide open and kept the head as stationary as a turttle.Phlegmatic eyes added to the trick.
There was a commotion,everybody thought i had fainted and the culprit was actually shivering.How did no one notice the wicked smile on my face.But then what happened,happens not more than once in a lifetime or even a century.You must have heard of SRK drinking on the sets of Devdas to get the required urge,have you ever heard of a person who actually fainted when he was just pretending to do so.Three cheers to this dumb natural actor!
When i came back to my senses, i was strictly told by the doctor to improve my diet or to perish.What followed were a series of requests which later became instructions and culminated as headaches."Raja betaa Khaana Khaalo Please"."Baabu nutritious diet bahut jaroori hai".
"Krishna ji tumse dugnaa maakhan khaaya karte the".Arre Yaar,agar mujhe krishna ki aadhi bhi gopiyaan laa kar do to main,unse chaar gunaa maakhan khaane ko tayyaar hooon!!!

My Dad's great institution is in the habit of transferring people every 3 yrs and it was time for me to finally stay at the place of my birth,the place where i was supposed to belong to..Dehradun.It was then that i started getting just a bit mischevious,made it to the school table tennis and hockey team.Once,while the english class was on,the three of us were involved in Plankchit..yes we wanted the spirit to scare Mrs.Lal away.She caught us midway and were thrown out of the class. Devashish suggested we go out to play basketball and i willingly followed him,coming just in time.The Vice Principal Bro. Caroll was on rounds,when a mosquito fell into my eyes.Tears started oozing and i can tell you that these catholics are really gulliblle.He mistook the tears as a way of compunction and i became an epitome of sincerity.Devashish's smirk was caught,resulting in him being asked to run around the football field whole day:)

The idiot box syndrome caught me unaware and all the outdoor activities were replaced by the mundane glue.And then the junk food really junked my senses to te core.When, we were transferred to a new place,i was conferred the title of 'Hanuman'.And there was a dichotomy of sorts.Not only did i resemble "India's super hero", but was also single,very much like him.The only difference that his desicion was a matter of choice and the fact that i had nothing to decide made it even worse.

Well, lived with the paradox of being called hanuman,when i would every day visit the Hanuman temple,not to notice the similarities but indeed pray to Him to help me get out of the jinx.
We were transferred back to Dehradun,bid adieu to 'hanuman' and gained admission into my old school.
Then came the ugliest day of my life.I ve committed many evils,been tremendously mean,plagiarised many works but nothing comes anywhere close.It was the 11th of March,had just finished with my 11th final exams and everyhing seemed to be going well. Was pretty excited to watch Kabhie Kushi Kabhie Gam,the new mega release,but had no idea that the day had only gam in store.I was rushing back home,when noticed an old lady in the middle of the road.Blew the horn as many times as i could,screamed at the top of my voice but she remained standstill.And i committed a sin,a sin that continues to torment me, at the time of every success, even today.The scooter of mine,hit this lady who was surely in her 80's and she fell down,rendering unconscious.She was rushed to the hospital, where(as i was told) she was discharged after 2 days.My regret comes from the form that i had seriously injured a person and couldnt even meet her affterwards so as to confirm her state of well being.The only solace was that i actually had the courage to accept my fault,get her to the hospital and not run away.Since the confession's done,hope to feel better now.

Lemme tell u,i am a die hard patriot and seeing this great nation as a genuine force to reckon with has always been my childhood dream.Since i respect nd adore this country,the regard for its emblems and offices comes inherently.While the flag was being hoisted on the independence day,we were supposed to be studying chemistry.The tune of the national anthem enticed us to sing along,thus halting the teacher's favourite SN2 reaction.Obviously,were thrown out of the class.Bro. Caroll who had saved me from a similar situation 5 years back came,but only with a letter in his hand this time, which said i was woefully short of attendance and might not be able to appear in the boards.I had to come up with a reliable solution quickly.

And while the thought process was on as i was returning back home, a girl riding on a cycle from the opposite direction came right in front.Had no option but to take a U turn rendering the scooter out of control.Was badly bruised all over the body and had fractured the right leg.Now that was the best available solution to come out of the Attendance thing.God id so Kind!!The plaster restricted my movement for three straight months.Gave my 12th exams using a crutch.
In the long run,the fracture taught me a lot of things.It taught me the importance of all those things that we end up taking for granted.The importance of true friends,much needed support from the family,the importance of good books(as tht was when i took up reading)and other things that were a great help.And most importantly, the fracture and the bruises made me realize that it isnt at all easy to clean your a**:)

Then began weeks of slogging..my prep. for JEE,the most dreaded exams for all enginnering aspirants.Probably,that was the first and the last time time when i put in my best effort.Though,that does include the peroidic bunks from the FITJEE test series to watch Kaante,Saathiya,harry Potter,**** ***** aur ***,** **** ********.I hope u need not be told as to what to the asteriks mean.We had fun and that made studies all the more enjoyable.In case u dont know me,i didnt clear the JEE.Never for a moment did i feel that i could ve put in more effort.I knew i had done my best.JEE was the most satisfying experience and there were people who actually deserved the 'IITian' tag much more than me.

As it happens,with most engineering aspirants,i had to search for alternatives.Ended up joining a place which aims to be at par with Stanford in 5 years or so but doesnt ve even the basic sports infrastructure into place.Had no idea as to what engineering actually meant and the first year studies did take a toll on me..physically.Kept on gaining weight till i started abhorring myself..abhorring the way i used to carry myself.Woke up one fine day and the intense passion screamed "Thats It".And that was it.A strict routine followed and man i lost 19 Kgs in 6 weeks.
A close friend has actually suggested to write a book about it and i do see some possibility of finding takers for the same.Considering the fact that i didnt join a fitness or a diet program makes it all the more marvellous.Yes, I kept on loosing pound a day for as many as 40 days till everyone i knew freaked out.Grandma thought i was terribly ill, an aunt thought i was on dope.Strangely,strange things ve strange effect on strange people!!

I am known to have grown up into pretty abnormal stuff.Abnormal not in the sense that i can open my mouth atleast 365 times in a year or prefer to take a bath only on guzzetted holidays. Can go without sleep for as long as 3 days as well as sleep for 22hrs at a stretch.Can gulp down the contents of a 2L bottle of Coke in a single go,stop my eyelids frm blinking for a couple of mins,play any damn game equally bad.I might not be involved in your times of joy but would be concerned enough at the time of apathy.And i stand by the statement, India is the land of oppurtunity,an oppurtunity to eliminate inequality ,an oppurtunity to provide equal access to facilities to every citizen.An India where every one has the ability to let their careers take the path they want to.

"Kiss me or Kick me,but dont ignore me"said Tushar Kapoor.Well,if this chap can dare to ask for a kick, i certainly deserve a kiss for this piece of crap.Meanwhile,as i go out to play soccer and score a own-goal or two,please dont forget to post in your ideas,suggestions and criticism.There's nothing as divine as feedback.And there are many more blogs to be posted real soon.So do visit regularly :)

Blogging Blah Blah!!!!

So, here it goes.My first post and its been a journey,already.Not in the sense that i ve put in tremendous thought or ve some good serious stuff up my sleeve(ahh..i typed sleep) but the innumerable server exceptions blogger throws. If orkut can, sort of, come out of it's "Sorry,no donuts for you" days, then its time for blogger as well. Here,i am talking about a medium that's supposed to be a personal webspace and not a moron coming up with nonsencical jargons whenever it feels like!!

First things first. Sarcasm on this blog by anyone but the "yours sincerely" wouldnt be appreciated.The reason..well, i read somewhere in the TOI Page3 editorials that sarcasm tends towards multiple dimensional personality.I abhorred 3-Dimensional geometry at school and for god's sake(though i am an agnostic!!) cannot go through an another ordeal again.No sarcasm and hence no alliance with the multiple dimensional personalities.PJ's apart, dudes and dudettes, you are adviced to be witty but forget about being acrimonious..towards the author atleast :).

Every sunday,i am preached upon by a friend of mine whose sermons range from philosphy to sociology,movies to sports,economics to laws and what not.Today,my objective attitude towards life made him augur "Its not the destination that matters, but the journey".So,in his words,lets enjoy the journey.