Insanity Revamped

Infy “Rocks” :P

2008-01-01T03:32:00.000-08:00

The past four months here have been nothing less than legendary. I have learned almost a billion things here. No, I m not talking about bunking conferences or feigning sickness or talking for hours on the phone, four years of DA-IICT already made me a pro as far as such sincere things are concerned. Nor am I eligible enough to talk about my escapades in the field of software engineering. For every line of code that I write, there are atleast 4 lines of error that the compiler throws, and for every line of code that I do not write, there are atleast 40 lines of garbled messages that my boss throws. Infact as mentioned somewhere in its monthly bulletin issue, Infosys is thinking about paying a thousand dollars to anyone who is willing to buy me dead or alive. But even if such a possibility arises, I know the only possible odd for me being able to leave infy is me buying myself. Jab Kareena Kapoor apni favourite ho sakti hai toh yaar main toh apnaa favourite ho hi saktaa hoon :P

Okayy arpit stop stop…weren’t u supposed to talk about the things u have learnt about..seriously, u can blabber nonsensically for hours. And now don’t u start talking about how infy has helped you to understand zoology better.By the way, Zoology and a software company!! Well yeah, Infy has actually made me understand the intricacies of the human brain better. Now I know that the brain is a wonderful organ with extra ordinary sensors. It starts working the moment u get up in the morning, or sometime even late in the afternoon, and doesn’t stop working until you get into the office. Kudos God..u intelligent u!!

Besides all the crap mentioned above, I have learnt to live life the Infy way. And then I have modified the infy way of life to come up with some golden rules. To start with, I always arrive late at the office, but then I make up for my unpunctuality by leaving early. And then as bosses are, the moment they stare at u, the best thing to do is to give them a super duper wide smile. See boss, even if you don’t have a beautiful daughter my age, I am still being soooo nice to you. So while their ulterior motive might be to subject you to Chinese torture, the only thing the boss can do is to helplessly smile back at you. And if reading my fairy tale, makes u wince, that your job/boss is much tougher, lemme clarify that playing CS all day with just 5-6 30 minutes coffee breaks and a short 3 hour lunch break can be really really tough and demanding. And if that’s not enough, abiding by the Infosys quality standards can be all the more challenging.

Talking about the Infosys quality standards, as a friend says, all we find here is extremely well manicured lawns, roads cleaned with tooth brushes, cycles oiled using Johnson's baby oil, unwanted shrubs shaved by Gillette Mac3(the best a grass can get!!), buildings painted sparkling white with pepsodent ultra whitening toothpaste and signs reading "Don't Horn !! Techies at work" three miles away from the workplace. Moreover, in case some one parks a vehicle even just a millimeter away from the parking area, the next thing one gets to know is that all sorts of viruses have inflicted his computer. Truely world class they call it!!

If that’s not enough, while, mineral water is used to maintain the sprawling loans and roads, recycled water is deemed fit for human consumption. Perhaps this explains the large number of gastro-entrits cases on campus ;) And oh my god, I forgot to mention about Infy’s visionary power and if they use it well to surge ahead, they use it better to block websites . As it should have been(or so I think ;) ), all porn sites are blocked, but then infy being the visionary it is, it takes in to consideration the probability that other companies might use porn to attract its employees and so even www.naukri.com (along with the porn sites) is blocked. Moreover, the strict scrutiny measures here deserve a special mention. The security guards are the most ubiquitous thing on campus and each one of them is equipped with X-RAY goggles to enable them to view everything…well not literally..actually almost everything, till the pocket of your underwear. And then to top it all, the management is now thinking of integrating GPS in the employees’ id-card, so as to keep a tab on the time they spend in the rest room. As mind-blowing and out of the world as infy..isnt it!!

And before I continue to blabber and run the risk of issuing a “non-conditional” apology to my boss, as I have already done it a thousand times, I think I better stop…but then Infy truly “rocks” :P

Development v/s “Democracy”

2007-12-23T21:44:00.000-08:00

The Gujarat elections this year were always supposed to be a landmark event in the history of the state. In many ways it involved a contest between the “ruler of hatred” and a party with “secular credentials”, a “dictator” and the assumed “highly galvanized rebels”, a “polarized campaign” and the national media(not to forget a battery of intellectuals),a “repetition” and a “wave of change” and thankfully a “development” model and the so-called “aam aadmi”. The elections were all the more significant as not only would they possibly impact the equations at the central level but can also very well go on to decide how future state elections in India are contested.

The National media and more importantly the Congress saw it as its most realistic chance of toppling Modi. Narendra Modi was fighting against a resurgent opposition, a perhaps righteously hostile media, a hapless anti-incumbency factor, considerably less of an emotional wave this time and a whole host of people from his very own party(not to mention an insecure party high command). But then Mr. Modi triumphed and how.

At the very start of it, the opposition got a lot of things wrong. The Congress forgot that it was a state election and not a national one. The factors at the micro level were more important than if Modi was the “merchant of death” or for that matter, progress made/not made in the past five years mattered more than the fresh legs needed to run the state. Take a trip to the most interior areas of Gujarat and one will find a network of roads, water and even electricity unparalleled to anywhere else in the country. The roads in the tribal areas of Gujarat are perhaps even better than the ones in the capital cities of other states. The rebels banked on their past popularities unaware of the chord that Mr. Modi had struck with the masses. A confidante in Saurashtra would agree that the firebrand non- corrupt and sincere Narendrabhai Modi outweighs the laidback Kheshubhai Patel in every respect. Lets accept it that the media, the intellectuals and even the peace loving citizens of India, didn’t want a man associated with as grave a thing as the Gujarat riots to be at the helm of affairs for another five years. Modi’s authoritative (and even “dictatorial”) attitude made us call the last five years as the darkest period of democracy in Gujarat. For the sake of democracy, we all cringed!! But we forgot that we were not destined to decide Modi’s fate, but the onus was on the voters in Gujarat. The voters didn’t care what the national or the international media felt, what mattered to them was how much the person they were to repose their faith in cared for Gujarat.

Most undoubtedly, Narendrabhai Modi is the sole hero of BJP’s win. He has come across as a powerful and charismatic leader who understands and values the masses. He alleviates the need of middlemen (or even party workers for that matter) and believes in a single point of contact with the masses. He very well knows the importance of an issue in context to a particular place and a particular time interval. So though polarization was an integral part of his wooing package, he always put a special stress on development. And this is where Mr. Modi stood apart. Not only did he align himself with the masses, as a certain Mr. Laloo Yadav would have done, but also played the development plank as efficiently as Chandrababu Naidu would have wanted to. So, to see the masses stand up to the expectations of their leader was not only heartening but might also prod our other political leaders to consider development as an integral agenda behind every state election.

As it seems, the Gujarat state and the factors of development might have won for now. But with an extreme nationalist Narendra Modi as the head of state, would India and humanity be a loser, that only time would tell…

Hope..

2007-10-19T06:03:00.000-07:00

Hello...this was a song i had written to cheer up some of my friends, who ll be writing CAT(an overhyped exam ;) ) this year..so it kind of makes sense for every exam u take..The moron that i am, had decided to do away with this song till a dear friend nagged me so much[:P] to post it here, that i had no other option left..well to be honest, i had an option to commit suicide but then the lively guy tht i am, i chose this one :D

Hey my friends,
u seem to be sailing,
in the same boat as mine,
The days might be tiring
The nights sedating
and then nothing might seem
to be going right,
But then neednt u worry
Because the world will be ours!!

The world will be ours!![chorus & strings]

Look at the stars
And tell the sky,
that u gonna do it
no matter what it costs
Have a million reasons to chase it
and none to forego
Having come this far,
That is the only way to go
And my friends,the world will be ours!!

The world will be ours!![chorus & strings]

The things that make you sad
The thoughts that break you down
Make u lose your faith
And harming you is all they do..
Being at the crossroads of a new life,
it is our choice which road to take
To sit back and crib
or to fight the odds with a new grip
So cheer up my friends, and the world will be ours!!

The world will be ours!![chorus & strings]

Remember the times we fell,
before we learnt to walk
Or the times
when all seemed to be hazy
till we saw a silver lining
Remember the dreams we had,
which kept us all afloat
Let our dreams,guide us all along
So dream my firends, and the world will be ours!!

The world will be ours!![chorus & strings]

Things might seem to be moving slow
But that doesnt mean, we are on an all time low
There is always a scope, to start afresh
Dump the bygones and come charging by
And what better way than do it now
Doing it, we are not alone
Through thick and thin we ll all stand
hoping we all tame the dreadest cat!!
So dont lose hope my friends, and the world will be ours!!

The world will be ours!![chorus & strings]

Party hard my friends,
it would prompt u to work harder!!
Dont ever say that u cant
that ways,u wont work hard enough
to prove u actually can!!
Besides, you ll never know where u stand
till you give your very best
Give this dream all you have
and be ready to soar to the stars!!

So work hard my friends, enjoy every moment of it,
...and the world will be ours!!

The world will be ours!![chorus & strings]
The world will be ours!![chorus & strings]

Sachin Tendulkar fans!!

2007-09-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

Some traits of a die hard Sachin Tendulkar fan..

1) The number of Sachin Tendulkar fans is always greater than the number of fans of all the other people put together!!

2) We hate Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel!!

3) We love the innocent smile as much as we love the soft voice!!

4)HE scores a century or makes India win the match (which happens every now and then), we forget all our miseries and feel to be on the top of the world!!

5)There is a direct co relation between the number of runs he scores and the quantity of food we end up eating..so u now know the reason for the extra flab we have!!

6)If Sachin misses a catch(once in a blue blue moon) , we claim that that the ball was swinging and it was actually one of the most difficult catches ever!!

7)As soon as HE gets out, switching off our television sets is the first thing we do!!

8)You try to take a dig at HIM and we would love to blast you. Whether it be a pub, a temple, a lecture or even a Job interview, u wont know what hit you!!

9)Each one of us regards oneself to be the biggest Sachin fan!!

10)Some of us might have been atheists had it not been for HIM!!

11)Some of us are actually more enthusiastic on his birthday than on ours!!

12)We might mock the Chopras and the Johars for those melodromatic movies, but the rumours of Sachin's retirement made us cry. Sachin might not be retiring for the time being, but the rumours made us realize how dry our lives would be without him!!

13)We would end up narrating Sachin Tendulkar stories' to our Grand children!!

14)And if you arent an ardent Sachin fan, talk to us and we ll turn u into one..

And the readers ( if any :)) are welcome to add a few more...

My Sister!!

2007-08-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

I have this sudden urge to try my hand at writing a song...nd what better way than to write it for my sis!!

Oh sister..
As momma says
i always asked for a kid sister
And looking back, am glad so i did
Just because simply cant i even fathom
What wld ve i been without u..

[Oh sister...My sister..] (backgrnd & chords)
For u growing wid me wld not have been easy
With me around, life wld never have been smooth
U wld wear shoes in the wrong feet, and i wld laugh at u
You wld talk as if u r a guy, and i wld tease u
Or u wld say something sensible, and i wld mock at u

[Oh sister...My sister..My sweet sister..] (backgrnd & chords)
I miss the fights we had
I wld pull your hair and u wld bite me on my hand
I wld say something and make u cry
Or act innocent when i was at fault
And u being solely blamed for all the deeds we did

[Oh sister..My sister...My sweet little sister..] (backgrnd & chords)
But then,you were thr with me
When i wanted to be a cricketer
Or when i wished to be a soldier
Or an author or a philosopher
And so were u, when i was heading nowhere

[Oh sister...My sister...My sweet little dearest sister..] (backgrnd & chords)
I mean every word mentioned in this song
But then the moron that i am
It actually took me 19 yrs to say all this
Yes, 19 yrs to say all this..
My sister...you r my sister..nd m one lucky brother..one lucky brother!!

copyright (c) 2007 Arpit Gupta

And for all those people(incase any :) ), who are marveled by this song..just ask your sister to bug u a zillion times..and m sure u ll come up wid something even better [:P]

Love!!

2007-08-02T12:41:00.001-07:00

I read this story quite some time ago..but somehow i have this sudden urge to post it here..here it goes..

Once upon a time, on a lonely island there lived all feelings...Richness,sadness,love,vanity etc.....One day they suddenly realized that the island was sinking.All prepared their boats and started to fleet towards the dry land.Love decided to stay back till the last moment.

When finally the last moment came,love requested richness to take her across to dry land.Richness said it had too much of gold & silver that there was no place for love in that boat.....Love then requested sadness but sadness said that she was so sad that she wanted to be left alone....Love then asked vanity to take her in her beautiful boat but vanity refused as it felt that love was dirty and would spoil the beauty of its boat....Happiness just passed by & was so happy that it could not hear love calling for help.

Then all of a sudden,a boat came and asked love to come over.Love in all excitement forgot to ask who it was.It was only when it met an elder "knowledge" on dry land that love asked who had helped her??? Knowledge replied it was "Time" ,another elder.Love,full of surprise,inquired that why time had helped her.Knowledge ,smiled a deep smile of wisdom and replied :
"It is only time which realizes how great love is"

Mr. Bachchan and a Phone call

2007-07-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

It was Pamba's phone call..and each time he calls, believe me, i expect something out of the ordinary..Last time, we were arguing if Federer was the greatest tennis player ever and then suddenly, he claimed to have won the argument. Not because i had failed on logic but simply because he thought that i was grammatically incorrect!! And then as a victory dance, he had gone on to proclaim that "Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom" would be a huge hit and so would be "Shootout at Lokhandwala"..the reason being that the two films boasted of a certain "Mr. Bachchan" leading the pack. Having read the reviews, and being such a sensible person that i am [;)] i didnt really agree with the hypothesis and offered him a bet worth the first salary either of us would be getting. And being the ardent Amitabh Bachchan fan(or so i thought), he was too happy to oblige. "He he Arpit...keep those 25 Grand ready..u labour hard for a month and i ll run away with the money..gud gud..poor u"

Needless to say, the two films didnt do well, so I had actually won. And here was his first phone call since then. I was expecting him to curse the audience and their "bad taste" and teach me some nuances about film making. But then with Pamba you never know..

"Hello.." I said
"Hello Arpit...how r u"
"Is that you Pamba, how come is the voice unusually clear today"
"Is it??"
"Yes it is...what happened to that damn Reliance phone of yours..u seem to be calling from the land line"
"Hmmm...welll...it's a long story Arpit"
"Ok..let it be..how have u been..remember u now owe me your first salary..courtesy your Mr. Bachchan" I said with a naughty smile
"Yeah..that Rascal!!"
"What!!!"I was totally stumped..till a few days back, this chap had been his hero
"That rascal has made me part away with my first salary"
"Oh..its ok Pamba"
"No!! Its not Ok!! He has not only "robbed" me of my money, but has been evading tax as well"
"Hmm..nd guess he has been violating the Foreign Exchange Maintenance Act (FEMA) too"
"Yeah..and not to forget the farmlands he bought..how on earth can he claim to be a farmer"
"Not to mention the endorsement 'Uttar Pradesh : Uttam Pradesh' claiming UP has a very low crime rate"I quipped
"Exactly!! Enough is Enough!!" He said raging
"I have my idols too..How can i continue to support him.." he went on to say
"What bullsh*t..your set of idols..where the hell were your 'idols' when you were extracting money from Dawood Ibrahim's mistresses' daughter" I managed to say
"Arpit, let bygones be bygones!I have decided to boycott all his movies and stuff and please don't ask me to think about it again! I will bring about a revolution. There would be thousands of others who would join me for this noble cause and together we ll teach Bachchan a lesson. And then i would give you an exclusive interview..so that finally your blog gets some readers"
"Oh..Pamba i would be so very very thankful to you"I said cheekily
"Keeing up with the boycott..the last few days have been a bit tough for me..but u see idols come first"
"Oh My God..is that the reason why you arent using the Reliance phone " I wondered
"Precisely and u know i have also quit those stupid chocolates which always gave me a feeling as if i was eating a can of worms"
"Cadbury..hmm..and what about that 'Parker' that u had forced me to 'gift' u"
"Well..i threw it in the dustbin"
"Pamba..i seriously dont believe this..how can u do that....u could have given it back to me"
"Come on Arpit, u should make sacrifices too.I have not been wearing my 'Reid and Taylor' suit to office. You know,I havent been to a restaurant for quite sometime courtsey the 'Pepsi' glow sign boards. No wonder, the breakfast isnt very tasty without the 'Amul Butter'. My digestion is on an all time low without the 'Hajmola' but then i want to teach this man a lesson "
"Are you really serious about all this" I had nothing better to say
"Well Arpit..my live-in partner has left..she wasn't finding me very energetic and advised me to continue with 'Dabur Chaywanprash'..How can i do tht!!You see,I can find an another live-in partner but not compromise on my principles"
"Waaah" I said
"My boss has been giving me a lot of headache for my disheveled looks, but u see, i cannot get my hair cut done as the barber also uses 'Navratan Tel' in his saloon"
"Okk"
" Courtesy the long hair,I had a nasty fall yesterday, but then for my principles' sake, I would not use the 'boroline' or that 'fast pain relief' balm.You see, i ll handle all these hindrances with aplomb"Pamba said proudly
"And if thats not bad enough, that washerwoman of mine refused to use any other detergent than 'Rin', so i have fired her from her job"
"And Pamba,i know how lazy you are..so does that mean that you have been wearing the same dirty clothes"
"Hmm..well..Yes...atleast for the time being..."
"OMG"
"Arpit by the way, does this rascal endorse 'Itch Guard' too" Pamba sounded a bit cautious this time
"Hmm..i do not think so"
"Thank God, I am relieved"
"Pamba i am really sorry for you"
"No...u need not be..you better be sorry for Mr. Bachchan..We can do whatever we want to...this is what democracy means..Remember, what we did to Sachin Tendulkar..for a single failed chance, we questioned his diligent record, his commitment towards the nation and were more than happy to smear mud on his face, letting his hard earned reputation go to the dogs...So u better pray for Bachchan this time" he said a bit sternly
"But I think this time, Mr. Bachchan being Mr. Bachchan, he would have the last laugh.Wonder what would you people do if he starts endorsing under-garments as well"I said and put down the phone

Authors Note:The above post was an intended sarcasm( sidin style :) ) on the trend of hero worshiping prevalent these days. The fans are always on the extremes....either they regard their heroes as God/Goddesses or turn them into Devils overnight. An equally unresponsive behaviour is seen on the part of so called "heroes" who are so very involved in their materialistic pleasures that they pay no heed to their social and moral obligations.
Hope it wasn't too bad :) So pour in your feedback
And Pamba sorry for using your name :) :)

New Year Updates..

2007-02-10T15:06:00.000-08:00

Seems like i am out of the "writer's block" (as a frnd says), so here's some crap to bother u with..

Its been about 60 calendar days into the new year. Here are some of those "special moments 2007"..

1. CAT 2006 was more or less a failure, a percentile that could have at best resulted in an MDI call, which doesnt seem to be materialising because of "administrative reasons". Wish i had spent those 20 man days on something better!!

2. My parents think that i cannot study at a stretch for more than an hour and more interestingly, i am a kid with weird ideas. Unfortunately, they are right!!

3. This is our last year in college and guess what..we didnt end up winning the sports championship this time..Phew Phew!!

4. Watching movies and telivision series is all i have been doing for the past month and a half. Worse, i realized about an hour back, have sub-consciously started calling my computer a "TV" ;) !!

5. My Btech Project. Well, those who know me well, wouldn't want me to talk about it. The visionary that i am(indeed blushing :D ), i ended up chosing a project that is too big and complex to be called a btech project and is actually nothing less than a full blown research project. Well, Mr. Arpit, if u work for about 30-40 seconds a day, any damn project can become a "full blown research project". And if that isnt enough, the kind of chemistry we(the BTP team) share with our mentor, makes it all the more better. During the past six months, we have been to her chamber atleast 50 times(we ve been needing some help),only to find her "bijjy" in some "other important work".
And whenever she finds us doing some other work, doesnt spare an oppurtunity to take a dig at us..Be it at the food court..be it in the labs or be it even in the examiniation hall!!Thank God..she cannot find me in the loo ;) (or so i rather hope...lol)..Infact once, seeing me from a distance, she called me and asked me sarcastically if she knew me..I said no and ran away :D
The last time, it took us about two hours to find her and when we did, the tables had turned, the equations had changed..she was the one who was suposed to do all the talking as if she hadnt tasted blood for days..the only thing missing was a whip in her hands.."You Kaamchors...better work...i dont care about the methodology...forget about the help...i just want results...results(grr)...Kaam nahin karoge to bamboo doongi"..Now i was stumped..i am known to maintain equanimity, but this was too much..."You being such an insincere faculty youself, what kind of effort can u expect from us..nd u wouldnt help us..You are a burden on the college..you are a liaility to us..the sloth that you are, u dont deserve to be our mentor..We disown u"I did not say. Instead the 'shameless' Arpit resurfaced and said "Oh..okk ma'am".And Pamba rounded it off with that perfect smile"Thank you Ma'am"
What the ****!!

6. I am a sadist and nothing gives me more joy than people reading a bad book and throwing their hands up in despair. So why not be a author and wreak havoc on mankind!! Sadly, i am stuck..not much progress there as well!!

7. Last time, when i was returning from home, my railway ticket was deemed to be transferred to the next day.And since, my presence in the college was inevitable the next day, i had to sit inside the pantry..yes..the pantry car.So now u know, the title of my forthcoming book :12 Hours in a furnace!!!!! Grrrrr........

8.I have this nack of getting involved in too many things..And the incorrigble freak that i am, m tempted to undertake the responsibilities time and again. So here was I, talking to the Placement Officer, explaining him that we were running behind schedule and we better get serious. This was supposed to be a pretty serious conversation. All of a sudden he asked "Arpit do u believe in Astrology"@#$%^U&&*^%$!#@$%^&%^W#Q$%^$#
I was bewildered..took me a while to understand the question, resulting in a subdued no from me..Despite that, he took out a notebook, started to me explain me the various planet formations and the impact they create..that Mercury was governing him and his life was in a mess..talked about his family, his professional and social life...Btw, i didnt interrupt him for i thought he might start crying ns silling the beans might atleast help him feel better...four hours later, he said "You are a very good listener!!" and let me go..

9.You know, i could have been hogging the media limelight..could have been the media's "darling",but i missed the oppurtunity and i am glad i did.Well this transpired about 2 weeks back.We had nothing better to do,so Manish and me decide to put a Proffesor's bike we had, to the best of use and visited the Akshardhaam. Akshardhaam is a full fledged fort now..with an entire batallion of CRPF..i never knew that we have started taking terrorists so seriously ;)
We got thru the first few security checks and i was bein thoroughly frisked at the last one...perhaps "thoroughly" is just an euphemism..and on the contrary, Manish wasnt made to go thru the last round of "check-up". The moron that he is, said loudly, "mere paas bandook hai"..and within half a mili-second, there were half a dozen policeman staring at us. Needless to say, they were gonna be real strict...sternly asked us our name nd he said some L Patel..but being an outsider and staying in a hostel, had no idea abt the adresses...and that is where we fumbled..So, if it had been bad till now, it was gonna be worse..the wallet was then checked to come up with his identity card, my ATM card and an another friend's Driving Lisence..A perfect case of Multiple Identity Theft..we were some moments away frm being called the "Face of terror" or worse carrying out an espionage..Media retracing my entire life to tell the people how i was deeply impressed by Osama or worse Modi!! Good sense did prevail and i slyly told the investigating officer"Hum to aapke bachhe jaise hain, aap kahen to hum chale jaate hain" and for a change this stupified, idiotic line did work and for a moment I did think of kissing Manmohan Desai(yaar..not on the lips ;) ) for inventing that dialogue..
We were let off..But i guess what had our fate been,in Modi's gujarat, had either of us sported a beard or one of the identity cards in Manish's wallet belonged to a muslim!!

All said and done, wish u a "super duper rocking" year ahead ;) ;)

Author's Note: Life sucks-Thats perhaps one of the most dogmatic and belligerent view about life..At times, though it may seem, that Murphy's law is the only universal solution, but luckily life isnt that bad afterall. If we dont sail past the rough storms, how wld we appreciate the cool breeze blowing around..And we wouldnt be able to sail past these storms, had it not been for the friends around us. Friends who stick to you, even in ur worst..friends who feel sorry, even when the fault isnt their's and friends who feel more proud of u than u yourself, for those little feats that u achieve.. It is the friends around you who help u "live"..
"Its not about surviving but living" says a great gentleman,who incidently happens to share his name and all the governing factors with me(lol)...so in his words "Lets live!!" :)

Not dead yet!!

2007-02-04T12:17:00.000-08:00

Well, havent been in the best of mood for sometime..really sorry to keep all of u(if thrs anyone reading this :) ) waiting..

but as they say...

i m not dead yet!!

Victory!!

2006-12-13T16:20:00.001-08:00

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!!

2006-12-11T14:45:00.000-08:00

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

2006-09-22T01:46:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

2006-06-10T01:46:00.000-07:00

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.