Only for their Eyes!!

I don't know why I didn't publish this post. It stayed in my 'Draft-box' from 23-Nov-2011. Even though, I don't live in Chennai anymore, the haiku there-in is timeless. So, here is that post with minor corrections ------------

I rarely miss my breakfast and when I do, my body never misses to remind me. After a healthy breakfast, I can take the Chennai Traffic heads on. You may classify the Chennai morning traffic into two categories. The maddening all-for-all traffic, where every soul on the street is going crazy and wants to get somewhere no matter what, nothing can stop them. Then there is this clue-less traffic, where everyone is super calm as if they have just woke up from their meditation and still not out of the gaze. They will cut through your way, without even meaning to be mean to you. Irrespective of the type of traffic, mornings are my favorite. I may have other vehicles crawl all over me and I may still not get frustrated or irritated.

Not today, though! I didn't take my car out and took an auto instead. I was to drop my little one Arav, on the way, at his school and head for a meeting. There was nothing wrong with the auto-driver. He was good and careful with his driving since we had a five-year old in the auto. In spite of his good driving, I was getting worked up. The chaos, noise and pollution were building up and I was losing my cool. Then all of a sudden Arav says, appa I saw a butterfly!

Jan Lokpal - What are we getting into?

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article1710046.ece

Here is a snippet from the previous link: The aim of the bill is not to prevent corruption but to punish the corrupt. In this respect, the draft does not provide an approach that is qualitatively different from that of the existing institutions of the state." 

It reminds me of an old proverb: Thievery cannot be abolished until the thieves have a change of heart!

Most of the time we talk or write as if the politicians are a different breed, race or from some distant planet. In the fight against corruption, I hear this cacophony more often than not. We forget that “we”, yes in double quoted boldend “we”, selected them as our representatives and they are most likely our friends’ or friends’ friends’ friends’ parents! They are very much like a lot of people we see in our close proximity. Unless otherwise we have a fundamental change in our attitude towards morality and decency in our interaction with the rest of the society, Lokpal or Jan Lokpal nothing can save us!

To drive home my point, here are some of our fellow citizens who will join Anna’s protest and then go about doing their business as usual….

At my residential complex: The thirteen plus year-olds that enjoy speeding in their dad's / mom's scooters are wide-eyed when they talked about "India against Corruption!" Straddled on their loaned vehicles they enthusiastically invited each other for joining the procession after school. Off they zoomed to their schools watched by their proud parents while the legal age for riding a vehicle is sixteen or eighteen (depending on cc of the vehicle). Why bother if mama (cop) catches, a few tens changing hands would solve the problem. One illegal activity will be nullified by another.

An ex-colleague of mine who was highly amused that I showed up for the driving test to get my license was equally proud to announce that he got his license from his hometown sent by post without him appearing for even the driving exam!! He's taking his day-off to join Team-Anna's procession. Hell! They demanded and got 1000 bucks from him for issuing that license - how unfair!

An Office bearer in my apartment residents' association who looked down upon me for being naive - for I applied for the ration card and has been waiting for years now, had advised me to use agents and speed-money (yeah that is the euphemism for bribe) to get things done faster. I was thrilled to see him sporting a “Fight Against Corruption!” badge on his wide chest buffed with pride!

A fifteen year old, that called for volunteers to help with the procession quipped “we got our freedom on 15th and lost it on 16^th of Aug “. This is the second Freedom Struggle! – Obviously, he was borrowing the lines from the media reporting Anna’s arrest on 16^th Aug. While I condemn the arrest, I only wish that the kid knows what “Freedom struggle” mean and does not think the “Greatest ever struggle for Freedom in the history of humanity is Avatar”!

As Mr. Gandhi said, “We must be the change we want to see in the world”. If not this mass movement spear headed by Anna will fizzle out and can only be likened to our guilt-steered support for ‘save the environment – dear pal, let us all switch off the lights on 10-10-10 at 10:10:10, and then head for our homes in our individual gas-guzzling big cars…!  We have done our part!

I will rather start with teaching my five-year old son to stand in queue with me and not use his age as a cover to by-pass the queue!

Last Diwali and my treasure trove!

Last Diwali, I hit upon a treasure trove of a sort! I was proudly reminiscing my childhood Diwalis to Arav. Where is Sholinghur, shot back my son! Is it in US (his favorite uncle lives there)? And that's when I thought it is time that I'd taken him to Sholinghur, which is approximately hundred and twenty kilometers from Chennai.

While Arav enjoyed the company of his uncle and nephews, I was busy rummaging through the old boxes stashed away in the attic, yearning for anything that would remind me of my childhood days at Sholinghur. Thanks to my brother, I spotted three of my diaries from 1988-90.

Here is a page from those diaries...!

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நண்பனின் சடங்கிற்காக போகும் அவசரத்திலும்

கூட்டுறவின் (பண்டக சாலை) விலைபட்டியலை 

நின்று நிதானத்துடன் பார்க்கும் 

நடுத்தர வர்க்கங்கள்!

தான் வேலை செய்வதற்காக கிடைத்த 

புதுக் கூடைக்காய் 

சந்தோஷப்பட்டு போகும் 

தெருபெருக்கும்

நகராட்சி ஊழியன்!

அழுது பின்னால் வரும் 

பிள்ளைக்கும் செவிகொடாது

2:30 சினிமா காட்சிக்காய்

பறக்கும் பவுடர் பூசிய அம்மா!

நகரத்திற்கு புதிதாய் வந்த

வேர்க்கும் வெயிலிலும்

மப்லரும் வானவில் 

கண்ணாடியும் அணிந்த 

கிராமத்து இளவட்டங்கள்!

இவர்களை 

ஏளனமாய் பார்த்து

சிரித்து போகும்

கல்லுரி இளைஞ்சிகள்!

மாடியில்

விசிறிக்கடியில் ஷெல்லி 

படிக்கும் தனக்காய் 

சந்தோஷப்படும் இளைஞன்!  

பொய்யான கோபத்துடன் 

இவைகளை வழக்கமாய் பார்த்துப்போகும் நானும்! 

இவைகளில் யார் அல்லது எது மாறும்!

குறிப்பு: எழுதியபோது வயது 16

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Ode to my Abode for a Decade!

We have been through the thick & thin;
rains and shines;

We have traveled around the globe;
spent many nights in dingy and swanky hotel rooms;

In a "flash" of a moment, you had brought out the worst in me;
I never looked that bad elsewhere;

How easily you switched hands with that tall guy in Admin;
You are off my neck & shoulder;

You had been my Id for ten years!
You had been my Id Card for ten years!

I handed over the laptop;
We exchanged pleasantries;
We shook hands;

I deleted the e-mail profile; I tore the parking sticker;
and headed straight for home!

I'm out of HCL!

Vegetarianism!

Paul McCartney's request to Indian Prime Minister


This is Oozhi kaalam (ஊழி காலம்), Kali yuga (कलियुग), the last-stage of human life on earth?: Paul McCartney has a suggestion on Vegetarianism to India: Did anyone tell Paul that:

1. An average Indian goes to bed a vegetarian on most of the days - for want of money to buy meat?
2. Indians have hundreds of religious days in a year, when even a meat-lover remains a vegetarian?
2. Americans with a population 4 times less than that of Indians, consumes more meat than Indians?

iPad/iPhone

In continuation of this post (http://mottaimaadi.blogspot.com/2008/12/anti-virus-software-is-scam.html), it is heartening to hear that the iPhone / iPad applications are authorized by Apple before they are "Market"ed, preventing malicious code sneaking into your device.

I know there is many out there that may not agree with Apple's big-brother approach and the lack of flexibility!

Note: I'm an Android fan myself!!!

Manmadan Ambu

Finally they changed the posters for this Kamal starer from "80's Malayalam bit-padam poster look" to a decent one. Short of budget? Has anyone seen the movie, yet?

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Odyssey

This time around, this blog is for an audio book. Yes, that's it! I have taken to audio books to make the best use of my long drive to the office. I finished listening to this 24-chapters book in about a week’s time! If you have not tried reading/listening to audio books, I suggest you try that. There are a number of sites available that provide free audio books. The following are a couple of them:

1. http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/
2. http://marancollects.blogspot.com/search/label/Audiobooks

Now to Odyssey: In summary, it is a grandma story! And true to grandma stories, it is quite interesting. Even if you are not a fan of Anjali Devi or Vittalacharya, you would still be interested in knowing the ways of life in 8th century BC, when the book was supposed to have been written by Homer! It is quite interesting to read/listen to how the Greeks invite strangers or friends to their houses; the interesting practice of courting; the laws of inheritance – quite interesting. You cannot but think of the similarities (in certain aspects) between the customs of the Tamils of the old and the Greeks.
It is worth reading or listening!

Note: Off-track, don’t you think it is unfair to call Anjali Devi as Telugu actress?

One more Indian student attacked in Australia

The Australian law enforcement agency is sending out a clear and
consistent message: are you one of those thugs that waylay people
coming back from a day's hardwork; and you do not want to be kicked in
the wrong place while you are busy with your act?, then choose your
victims carefully, foreign students! If you can recognize Indian
students, all the more good. We are officially declaring that they are
'week' targets; they will be at the wrong places at wrong times, that
is, we, the police, wont be around to help them! And they are very
likely to carry mobile phones and iPods. Have a field day!

Angels and Demons

If you have not read the book, then you will enjoy the movie more! Having read the book, the unexpected quantum of change in the screenplay was very unsettling for me. However, that's where it stops! The movie in its own rights is worth watching.

The book is about the continuance of the age-old war between church and science. There are moderators amongst scientists and church, who believe science and religion go in parallel and in fact they both support the cause of the other. Of course, both sides are not without hardcore elements that despise and suspect that the other camp is undermining their fundamental belief. The storey is about a fanatic that uses science to establish the righteous place of the church. He was pursued by an academic who would stop at nothing but to stop him.

Some good themes in the book are lost in the movie. In the book, it was Vittoria's father that was killed by the assassin. That by itself was a strong motive for her to seek revenge along with Langdon. In the movie she is a mere prop. In book, the assassin was in fact lured into saving the very establishment, church, which he thinks is destroying. The version of the camerlengo from the book was a highly motivated fanatic, in the movie he turns out to be a bit lame!

However, the screenplay has pleasantly surprising changes compared to the book. The movie is matured in that sense. Where the book slips into a stereotype of a middle-east terrorist with little respect for women, the movie portrays him as a hired assassin. The assassin leaves Langdon and Vittoria unarmed, though he could have easily killed them - 'because I was not asked to kill you!'

While the book goes overboard with church-bashing, the movie is gentle and subtle about church's controversial past.

In spite of the shortcomings, the movie is a better version than the book. From start to finish, the movie goes without any moments of slackening.

But why the heck did they over simplify the fifth symbol, the mythical diamond, of Illuminati!

Overheard

A couple of conversations I overheard over the weekend!

At BigBazar: A father, accompanying his two teenage daughters, speaking over mobile phone. 'Where else? Shopping! You see! All I do these days is nothing but chauffeuring and swipeing credit cards!'

A chat between my wife, my three year old son and neighbour's son of same age:

My wife: a person who flies an aircraft is a pilot! A person who sails a ship is a captain! Now, you know this one, who drives a car?

The kids in unison, 'daddy!'

It appears that it is not without a reason many men out there fear marriage!

Oz – Indian students are targeted!

There was a perception that Indian people were "weak prey" for criminals, Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe was quoted as saying by the media here."I don't think they are (racist crimes) in general ...more opportunistic activity. We think they (Indians) are vulnerable, we don't think it's racial, we think they are a weak target."

Police have repeatedly denied that race was a factor in the attacks, arguing that Indian students were often simply in the wrong place at the wrong time as they travelled home late at night with items such as mobile phones and iPods.

What a lame response from an establishment, which is meant to protect the "week" and have extra vigilance at the "wrong" places!

Sarvam

It is not that everyday you get to see talent and hardwork wasted mindlessly. Amazing art direction, wonderful costumes and clever blend of graphics with choreography; none of this had a chance against an absurd storyline and screenplay.

In spite of their general inability to emote varied expressions, you expect to see the leads Arya and Trisha in better movies. Their experience in the industry must have taught them something when it comes to choosing the right movies to act!

Rupa says this movie is from the same director who did Pattial. Hard to believe!

Anyway, I walked out of the theatre with few unanswered questions, though. Was Trisha's death before the intermission as per the original storyline or she requested to be killed off the movie! Was Arya's poisoning his attempt to commit suicide for accepting to act in this movie or part of the original screenplay! I will never know!

Exit-poll results Vs Results

As I write this blog, the Indian Parliament election result is being announced. The trend shows that the election pundits are once again proved to be inefficient in predicting the results. They predicted that JMM would be deciding the next government. For the uninitiated, JMM is Ms. Jayalalitha, Ms. Mamata and Ms. Mayavathi! The pundits predicted that NDA would form the next government with the support of JMM. They predicted UPA may get only as many if not less number of seats as NDA. The results speak a different story!

The media and the pundits used scientific methods and proper sampling for the survey. They partnered professional consumer survey companies to increase the accuracy of their predictions. In spite of such measures, they were caught unaware by the actual results. I wonder if their prediction mechanisms took voter's psych into consideration. It has been rumored that, this year more than any other years in the past, voters were paid to vote for a particular candidate. If that's true, what would the voters say when they were approached by the surveyors? Of course, they would say they voted for the party that paid them money even if they have voted for some other party. They have no reason to believe that the surveyor is actually from a post-poll surveying company and not someone from the party that paid them money. I don't know if the surveying companies considered this possibility!

If this reason is true or even partially true, then it can skew the results. If that's the case, can we then assume those parties that were predicted to win during the post-poll but lost when the actual results were announced, were actually that parties that paid the voters! Ineteresting!!

Registering your name in the list Vs Voting

Ah! Did I say registering my name in the voters list was easy (Election koothu!)? Of course it was easy! But that does not necessarily mean your name will figure in the final list. After two visits to the Taluk office, I was confident that my name would be there in the final voters list. Hm! Hm! someone in the election commission decided that Mr. Kamal Haasan and I shouldn't be voting this election! Though I was very disappointed that my name did not find a place in the list and I could not vote, it was a big consolation that even someone as popular as Mr. Kamal Haasan was dropped from the list! Praise democracy and equal treatment to all!!

Pay the voters or make the voters pay?

We have heard enough of candidates paying voters to listen to their propaganda. It is a big business during election time. Agents pick up loads of people from huts and villages to the meeting venue; arrange snacks and lunch for them; depending on the venue of the meeting, they arrange for site seeing; and finally pay them for their day's 'work'!

That's old news! Have you heard of a politician who makes his voters pay to listen to his propaganda? Here comes Mr. Vijayakanth, actor/politician from TN. This smart politician has been timing his movies, which is loaded with political overtures and his party's propaganda, in such a way that his die-hard fans pay to watch his movie and listen to his propaganda as well.

Now isn't he a politician at the core?

Political Parties or Corporates?

The more we read the election news, it becomes clearer and clearer that political parties and Corporates are alike!

At the fore of the goal set is the desire to dominate the 'market' or profit.

The Corporates build their brand by constantly being in the news through advertisements, announcement of expansions, etc. So does the political parties! Every issue is looked at and judged for its potential to create news, sensation.

Individuals or small business owners pay upfront franchise fee to acquire rights. They run the franchise, make profits, pay at regular intervals to the corporate - all these happen using the brand image of the corporate. So does the candidates of the political parties. It is rumored that they pay hefty sums to get seats. They pay at regular intervals to the party to retain their 'rights'. They run their 'business' un-interrupted with the support of the brand image of their parties.

Corporates hire celebrities such as actors and sports persons as their brand ambassadors. Political parties are not far behind in recruiting celebrities. Well! Many leverage their celebrity status to float their own parties is a different story!

In both political parties and Corporates, many key people may enter and exit. However, the control generally remains with the promoter's family!

The similarities end when it comes to forging alliance, though! When the Corporates go for partnership or joint ventures, it is for long term, five or ten years. The political arena is unpredictable. The have one alliance for the incumbent govt., one before the election and one after the election!

What do they mean by don't politicize?

I really dont understand! What do they mean by don't politicize the issue. I'm referring to the recent shoe throwing incident.

The leader who was assassinated was a politician. The person(s) who were accused of spearheading the massacre of a community are politicians. It is a political party that is accused of being insensitive. The shoe was thrown at a politician, that too, a minister. The person who threw the shoe was a political analyst!

I really dont understand! What do they mean by don't politicize the issue!

Election koothu!

Nowadays, election is the favorite topic whenever I bump into someone! Well, I had cast my vote couple of times in the past. When I moved into my new house, my name got dropped from the voters list. Since then I missed a couple of elections. It was the right mix of Ignorance and laziness that had kept me away from registering my name! I did not know registering my name in the voters list was a simple process. I thought of the bureaucratic govt offices and did not bother to register my name. Thanks to Jaagore, I registered my name in the electoral list recently.

Now, that is the kind of social movements we need the corporate houses to fund. Tata Tea backs Jaagore! See you guys around, Im stepping out for a chai now!

Apeing the west!

Did you switch off the lights during the recently 'passed' Earth Day? What a farce?

The new fad in town is Global warming! The corporates have joined the kitty party ladies. If the West says, we are switching off all electrical appliances for half an hour, it makes a lot of sense. They get electricity 365 days a year 24/7. Their life style needs a numer of gadgets, must-have, need-to-have and nice-to-have types. What is the situation in India? Even in a big city, you would call yourself lucky if you get electricity 24/7 for 300 days a year! The small towns are subjected to power cut everyday, anywhere between 30 to 120 minutes. The remote villages are a sorry sight, many dont even have electricity. When the electricity department is already cutting the power proactively on your behalf, why do you even bother?

You should have seen the amount of e-mails and advertisements that were floating around to promote Earth Day. Avoiding this circus alone would have achieved more than what that half an hour could have, in terms of storage space for those mails, CPU usage, network usage, wasted human energy, etc.

Should we all clamour about global warming just because it is the most fashionable word or the in-thing now? Dont fall for the politicians and corporates. They have a responsibility to 'show' that they care for the environment.

If we are really worried about global warming, then the let us worry about Nano for a starter. At a time when world's natural resources are drying out, when the rich countries have realised their mistakes and are promoting public trappostation, demarking separate lanes for car-pools, we are attempting what is ironickly termed as common man's car. Where will these cars run? Fly?, for we dont have enough road space for the existing vehicles. It would have been a celebration, if the Tatas came up with a Rs. 1,00,000 bus, a public transportation vehicle. That's the need of the hour.

Let us sensitice the people of switching off the lights and fans when leaving a room, switching off the appliances when they are not in use, and not leaving the appliances in standby mode. Then, we will send 'the' message to the authorities. Let us get the priorities correct, let us lock the cart to bull in the right order!