true love

Ganesha Chaturthi

The much loved elephant god, Ganesha, gets his very own festival. Millions of people all over India celebrate this with much enthusiasm and gusto. Its specially popular in the western state of Maharashtra and even more specifically, in Mumbai or Bombay, the capital city of Maharashtra. Crowds spill out on the streets, carrying clay statues of Ganesha, singing and dancing and banging drums and getting drunk and shouting prayers and what not, till the ferment becomes a fervor and the stream of humanity carrying Ganesha statues aloft, pours into the beaches where the land meets the sea. Wading into the sea, with chants and mantras and the odd curse when someone slips and falls or get pushed, the clay statues are immersed into the sea and they slowly melt away.

* note : all statues are made of baked clay and are totally bio-degradable.

There is a rather silly joke which I always remember when I think of Ganesha Chaturthi.

* note #2 : its not to do with the fact that he is an Elephant God, and yet is carried by a mouse. Thats right, a little mouse is the official carrier of our beloved happy funloving elephant god. That is funny, but also very profound if you look at it differently. Sometimes Ganesha loses his mouse...specially if theres cheese around..and then he doesnt like it a bit... as you can see -




Where were we, ahh yes, the joke. Well it seems once a christian, a hindu, a muslim and a Sikh were on a boat near Mumbai, and it sprung a leak. The christian, prayed to Jesus, who appeared and picked him up and carried him to land. The Muslim prayed to Allah, and was rewarded similarly. The Sikh, prayed to his Guru, who appeared and carried him to land. The Hindu being a follower of Ganesha, prayed to him and Lord Ganesha appeared before him. The hindu was happy and waited for Ganesha to lift him up and save him. To his amazement, Ganesha started to do a little elephant dance singing a lively song and made no move to save him. The boat went under and the Hindu was drowning, and there was lord ganesha, doing the cha cha cha and singing a peppy film song. "Lord why dont u save me" cried the hindu. Lord Ganesha gave a smug smile and said, " You guys make a song and dance and drown me in the water every year dont you..now see what that feels like" ...at which point the Christian, the Sikh and the Muslim standing on the shore, clapped their hands and acknowledged the wisdom of this. The Hindu was going to say something, but swallowed some water and went under, never to resurface.

WHY are there so many motor accidents in JAMAICA

look at these pictures to understand WHY!!

and the answer is

foolin around with photo shoppe

and some animals are like this only

some people are like this only

motorvehicle pics that are not so common

more later

stats for this week....surprisingly internet explorer is just 55% of the browser share among people visiting this blog.

This was one of my best weekends in a long while.... met some old good friends....visited boston... took in the MIT campus... and even managed to wrap myself around some excellent masala dosa's... will write more...work has suddenly heated up..so getting less time to blog...but its due... dont go away....i have few readers anyway... if you are reading this..you are one of the extremely rare species.. a literate friend.

thought of the day

an old Chinese saying

"To steal a book is an elegant offense."

tricolor in NYC

rambling along

its late at night on thursday...the motel staff are behind bulletproof glass, late night customers drive up in fancy cars with lots of bling. Its been a full working day, part of a busy week and I am tired out.

I had a nice talk with my boss on the way back from work. He was explaining to me how things worked and how important the right environment was. It was a strange situation to be in, because usually I am the one trying to preach this message. I usually talk about thinking big and providing the best possible environment for people to work in and it was nice to be taught a lesson that I thought I knew. Goes to show that one often forgets what one knows.

This set me thinking about events and people that taught me something in this past year and I thought I would list them down...lest i forget.

Rule #1 - This would be the lesson learnt at the new year party. The rule is, if you have a party in the winter, make sure theres lots of firewood. Charu reminded me of this, when he went and sourced a 30 foot long bamboo pole at 2 am from a nearby construction site, which was impossible to cut or chop or burn...still the message was there.

Rule #2 - No matter how pissed off they make you, do not strike back at someone you share a house with. You have to live with it..better to turn the stereo on at full volume and get your message across. Break a few bottles if you have to, but dont break any heads.

Rule #3 - Two dogs are better than one. One dog chews up your trouser legs, two dogs chew each others ears.

Rule #4 - Before attempting any tricky technological undertaking, take a deep breath, read it up on the internet, check out the manuals, talk to someone who knows about it and then sit down with a calm mind and just do it step by step.

Rule #5 - If you have a plan and you realise certain flaws in it and drawbacks to implementing it then do not question the reasons for the plan. This is sometimes tough to remember. Hold on to the original plan and work around the problems. It may be harder than you thought, but you may be stronger than you estimated.

Rule #6 - Give all possible freedom to people, but take a daily report. If you cannot get them to make a report everyday, theres very little chance that you can get them to do anything else. If you dont have the time to read the reports then you probably dont have time to mentor them either.

Rule #7 - If you like someone, dont be afraid to ask them out for dinner. Coffee is fine and beer is nice, but dinner is what counts.

Rule #8 - Its always more lively in a bus than it is in an aeroplane.

check this out

interesting story of a girl with a one track mind..how she blogged about it...and how the blog went on to become a book...all with her remaining anonymous..and now the media outed her... read her blog here

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964):Speech On the Granting of Indian Independence, August 14, 1947

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long supressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of Inida and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

read the full speech here

coke and pepsi banned?

The state government of Kerala in south India has banned the production and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the state. The companies will be asked to close their operations entirely.

Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan stated today that the ban was being imposed because of the health hazards posed by Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

This must be the shot that will be heard around the world. First the US will protest and put lots of pressure on India to stop this...then there will be an outcry in the US media and senate..then the Indian government in the centre and the media there will launch a PR blitz to counter this. Then the Supreme court in India will declare the Kerala governments actions unconstitutional, then the CPI a coalition partner in the central government will make a big fuss and bring down the government...

earlier...someone once said... they dont have bread? why dont they eat cake ?...

now its.. they dont have drinking water? why dont they drink coke ?

:)

diving in

 
  

sunday street scene

first friday evening in america

so a week has passed. Spent a full working week here and it was fun. After a long time I was working in the daytime. Since it was the first week, i was treated rather well. Both the bosses took turns to pick me up from the motel on their way to work and drop me back. They also stood me lunch a few times. I visited a place called Panera breads which had some awesome onion soup and sandwiches, a place called Pastablitz which was nice, a subway and an indian buffet which was very satisfying. Had roti and dal after quite a while and just filled myself up.

Workwise the pace was good. Got quite a few things underway and the next week should see some results start to come in. Today I worked from the motel and that was nice too. Went for a lunchtime swim, which is pure sinful luxury on a working day. Cooked me own lunch, which was heating up a matar paneer thing and making some rice. Also some nice bitter chocolate to top it off.

I went to meet a writer with whom I had a correspondence some time ago. She lives in downtown Baltimore near the John Hopkins Uni and that area is very lively and vibrant. I set out at 5:30 and caught a bus down to the city. Bought an all day pass. Once I reached downtown, I took a look around. Had been a little shocked by the neighbourhoods the bus had passed through. They were not like the pretty little white parts of town, but were more grungy and rundown. The disparity is pretty starkly visible. They are nice enough places compared to the ones in india, but compared to the rest of the town, they are just glorified slums.

The inner harbour area is nice with lots of tourist attractions. I got a little lost and walked into an area where there were pretty girls standing around on the street looing bored. A bit further on and the signs saying "hustler" and "you must have a drink at all times" made it pretty clear that this was a place where sex sells more blatantly than usual. I made my way towards the more shiny and bank type of buildings and asked around. I was directed to a bus stop where the #3 bus would take me to John Hopkins Uni where I was to find a cafe called Donnas.

Sitting in the bus, I suddenly spotted Donna's through the window and got down in a hurry. Waited around but couldnt spot my friend. So I asked the bar guy if this was the only Donna's around and I found that it wasnt, the one I wanted was another couple of miles down the road. I walked on, but couldnt find a bus stop, and a few more buses passed me by without stopping. Stopped and asked a policewoman for directions and she said it was another mile or so off. Said not to worry since it was a safe neighbourhood. So I walked on again..

Finally I got tired and stopped and asked an asian looking guy for directions. He told me it was still quite a way off, and I gave a loud sigh. He said that if i waited a couple of minutes, he could give me a lift part of the way. Soon he reappeared and I got into his car. He drove me straight to Donna's and I got off. Thanked him profusely and asked him if he was indian. Nopes he said, Pakistani.
Same thing I said, and he smiled. We exchanged numbers, and I thanked him again.
I believe he just came back to drive me out to Donna's and after that would have driven straight back to his house. Asian hospitality for you, and in its full glory in the US of A.

Met my friend, and we had a nice dinner, then caught the 10 pm bus back to the harbour, then the other bus, which was surprisingly crowded back to my motel.

My first adventure in the wild wicked west and it was quite fun actually. I think I shall buy some more day passes for these buses and see more of the area around this weekend...so far so good...

tuesday in america

DAY 4

My fourth day in america is about to get over. Its been a busy two days at work. Today I got a cellphone. I also got the advice to use it sparingly and try and call as much from a landline phone as possible. "Ok I have to just pretend its 5 years ago in India" I said. That brought a chuckle from the boss, and he admitted that America is now beginning to catch up to India.

The hot weather has gone away a bit, and there was some rain yesterday. Its nice now not unlike how delhi was when I left it.

I got a new cellphone today... now i am at 917 664 5442 . If I get too many calls selling me magic pills or credit cards then I will have to delete this post. According to the stats, 4 people visited my blog yesterday, so hey...feel free to call...would like to hear from you.

Been eating out a lot, thanks to everyone wanting to make me feel at home. Today went to a mexican place and it was really good. Wonder why everyone feels compelled to pack along packed greasy indian food while coming to america.

Theres nothing much to do in the evenings unfortunately. I dont have a driving licence and so no car. no car means no nothing. stuck .. so i am looking to make friends with someone who has a car... :)

Its a nice time to be in america I think. Theres a lot of greenery and its vacation time..

travelling on

My first visit to the US of A. Left friday night from Delhi. It was a close thing... we were stuck in traffic on the way to the airport and it was looking pretty rocky. I had to get out twice to direct traffic and try and get our car through the insane clutter of tractors, trucks, bicycles, motorcycles, autorickshaws, cars and jeeps. Reached the airport at 9:15 pm and the flight was to leave at 10:45..but luckily everything went smoothly from then on...had to stand in queues and answer a lot of questions and get searched a few times..but made it on to the flight in time and settled in by the window. It was a 15 hour direct flight and the service was pretty good ( continental airlines). Our plane flew over the cities of samarkand and bukhara and the skies there were cloudless and the cities glowed like jewels in the night. Would love to visit there sometime...looked really pretty.

Slept off intermittently, woke up again when we were flying over norway and then when we passed over the glaciers of Greenland before finally landing in Newark NJ. From the air newark and the area around was just one huge sheet of yellow light...stretching as far as the eye could see. When the roads came more clearly into view, it looked very unlike india. The carlights were evenly spaced and were moving at a constant speed in a straight line...there were no clusters of cars or zigzag patterns....everything was relaxed and in order.

Stood in a few more queues and then had breakfast with a guy from work. Then got onto a plane to Baltimore and got settled in a motel here. The cars are nicer, everyone wears shorts, there are no people on the streets, traffic never stops and all you have to do to eat is to buy food and warm it.

I miss home already :( but am looking forward to work on monday. It seems like a great place to get work done. Theres efficiency in the air :)

home in gurgaon

 
 
 
  

bamboo forest

  

home in gorakhpur ..undergoing a makeover

 
 
 
  

new house design in sector9-gurgaon

 
 
 
  

letter from israel

i read this in a letters section of www.salon.com....its really nice...wanted to save it..if the author / copyright owner has an objection, please leave a comment and i will take it off..

Harrybbb18 - 07:13 am Pacific Time - Jul 24, 2006 - #4782 of 5044

Hi all, I'm in Tel Aviv now. Left Jerusalem because along with the war the stones, which I once so loved, seemed too harsh. And the people in Jerusalem have really changed since I left in '98. There used to be a cliché that the occupation would or was taking its toll on Israeli souls, and no doubt that was true in the hopeful, almost, on-the-verge '90s. BUT now there is no question. For you who are either Jewish or scholarly, all I could think about was Maimonides, the Rambam's "Guide to the Perplexed," which I first found at my grandfather's house. I can't tell you just how perplexed we are, that is when we aren't barking and rude. True, the younger Israelis, even those doing Millueeem (yearly 2-4 weeks in the army from age 22-45) are still, the boys I mean, sweethearts but very apolitical.

The older Israelis are increasingly sure of their paranoid notions. And this Nasrullah has surely arrived in the guise of Hitler, is what Israel always finds in its enemies. This guy is something else, is determined.

My small take, this was coming. All because and All BECAUSE we never gave the Palestinians a chance, we were going to get it, in some form soon, and sorry all you other friends for sounding harsh but my take is that Israel will not exist, whether in 10 or 20 or 50 years. Everyone I know of all sorts is thinking this. From here it is obvious. We never made a single friend in the neighborhood, minus the wonderful Rabin at the end of his life. We never cared to. We are founded on the Holocaust and we as a people lived by that, and the lesson as I wrote somewhere wasn't, "Hey, people can be really cruel so let's make friends." No, the most terrrible legacy for Jews here was, "They all hate us; they always will," and so power is all we need. And that is beyond tragic. Beyond sad. This is not a country that is manic or fun anymore. There are many who are the living dead here. And it is not fear. No one south of the border, where all my journalist friends are, is afraid. Even if Nasrullah can reach Tel Aviv, there is not only no fear but no guards anywhere. "Live and Let Live" lives on here with regard to other Israelis. You never meet a Palestinian except in the oldest restaurants and hotels in Jerusalem and rarely in Tel Aviv. It's the sea. It's the cafe night life. It's not the Israel I loved in Jerusalem. And though the peaceniks have growing crowds, up to 5,000 last Saturday p.m., where is their power?

So, sorry to say, I think the time when we could have made a reasonable peace is over. Now we have bombs going both ways, a fence that is literally bone chilling if offering Jewish Israelis' safety of a sort, that is pure delusion because we are never going to be safe. And I'm not taking sides, I hope, when I say we co-created this mess. And so ontologically and soon psychically many will leave or die, and I write this, which I may have written already, with great heavy heart. I loved this country. I liked the Palestinians. I did so much time thinking that we two would be great allies. Now we are not allowed to see each other, and this Israeli hysteria is not attractive. Nor are Olmert's pronouncements indicating we are pure innocents. We never looked at ourselves -- Israelis used to be fun but always were apsychological, and the great majority seem like they want to re-create the trauma of the last Holocaust. I am so sorry to say all this, rushing as I do, because it's beautiful here, everywhere, oh so beautiful. How sad is that. I say, let Jerusalem be left to the donkeys. Everyone I know is sad, or torn up, or agrees with the above, whether they say it or not. No more peace activities feed hope. There is little hope in the land, the "light unto Nations"... or we f--ked up ? Anyone? ...

I am tired, as it is late. But I feel that Israel's actions in Gaza are loosely related to Hizbollah. Nasrullah is the man the crazed, for reasons or no, Arabs want. He is being incredibly stupid and careless and cruel FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW. I personally am not against fighting him. BUT, it's a lose-lose and diplomacy has become a joke. No one in the 'neighborhood' trusts Israel to be fair. They haven't been. To Palestinians. So, war will kill this economy unless there's a cease-fire within a month or two.

And when the Israeli economy goes, not to mean tragedy in Lebanon, which yes Nusrallah brought on, but not out of the blue, out of the feeling that we are, we in Israel, always using violence and never deigning to dialogue, it all connects ... But I said before and say again, it's too many decades, too many genius' and the reason this conflict was and imo will NEVER be resolved is that Israel has a hold on Israelis, of course, duh, and on Americans, Jews and non-Jews.

We have had this state for 59 or so years. We blew it. Like Humpdy Dumpkin, never to be repaired. No Tikkun Olam. No psychology. Not worse that Bush, not. But worse than our best leaders and all the best people wanted. Too late. Imo. Read Ury Avery who writes, as I've said, for Gush Shalom. I was at the rally here on Sat. PM and I was at the Film Festival and no one has any hope left no matter what they write. Everyone thinks we should have created the Jewish State not in Uganda as once Hertzl thought, but in Australia. This is not going to work, and that is a thought I never, ever allowed myself to fully entertain. I meet tomorrow with two other peace leaders. They work around the clock on this. I do not see the point. Do you? Really? If you do then, as ABYehusha always says, it's your duty to come here and live. I mean that. It's a wonderful people in a place that has the worst leaders and the Arabs have the worse leaders and the PEOPLE CANNOT EVEN MEET. dat's it. I really believe you have to be here to get some piece of truth. I got the worst news and I trust my intuitions. I'm no genius. I never have been what we could call a "hard thinker" but I did give almost 15 years to fighting and loving for peace. It ain't gonna happen. We kill the Palestinians all the time and we will sooner or later get killed and we'll probably take the Mideast out with us. That is the Israeli way. So, it's a place I love, it's my home and it's f--ked. Said this before. But that's all. Love to all, extreme exhaustion due to heat, worry and more worry. xxoo Wendy

2 poems

2 poems. The first is by Jelaluddin Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks); the second is by Kabir (in a version by Robert Bly).

1
Has anyone seen the boy who used to come here?
Round-faced troublemaker, quick to find a joke, slow
to be serious. Red shirt,
perfect coordination, sly,
strong muscles, with things always in his pocket: reed flute,
ivory pick, polished and ready for his talent.
You know that one.

Have you heard stories about him?
Pharaoh and the whole Egyptian world
collapsed for such a Joseph.
I'd gladly spend years getting word
of him, even third or fourth-hand.


2
Have you heard the music that no fingers enter into?
Far inside the house
entangled music-
What is the sense of leaving your house?

Suppose you scrub your ethical skin until it shines,
but inside there is no music,
then what?

Mohammed's son pores over words, and points out this
and that,
but if his chest is not soaked dark with love,
then what?

The Yogi comes along in his famous orange.
But if inside he is colorless, then what?

Kabir says: Every instant that the sun is risen,
if I stand in the temple, or on a balcony,
in the hot fields, or in a walled garden,
my own Lord is making love with me.

good safe clean water

We had driven out to Neemrana on sunday. My trusty but non airconditioned can-on-wheels did the two hour drive without complaints. It was great day for the trip, pleasant and cloudy, threatening to rain but dry. On the way back we stopped at a dhaba. Since both my companions were Americans and a bit suspicious of the water, we ordered a bottle of water. I however had a nice drink from a plastic mug. We had a little conversation about how fresh water might actually be better than bottled water, even if bottled water is cleaner. I mean how safe is plastic actually, specially when kept out in the Indian sun.

Today while reading this article I was reminded of that discussion. Makes a lot of sense actually. We sometimes forget that bottled water is to used in an emergency, not as a matter of course. Our value systems change gradually with the advertising and lifestyle changes.

the blogs are back

"With Internet Service Providers restoring access to blog-hosting sites Blogspot.com and Typepad.com in a phased manner since Saturday, bloggers, who maintain online journals, are now able to access, edit and post new entries " says the Hindu.

skype phone coming to india... :)

The phone is expected to hit the Indian market in the third quarter of 2006...read more ..

interesting statistic about israel

Thus, as it becomes self evident that Israeli military power is no longer as effective as it once was, this will surely accelerate the flow of Jewish settlers out of Israel. Information regarding emigration of Jews out of Israel is a closely guarded secret, but using Israeli government statistics, we can infer that immigration to Israel has rapidly declined over the last several years, and that Israel may even be experiencing a net outflow of Jewish migrants. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of Jewish immigrants to Israel declined to 21,000 in 2004, which is a 15-year low. In 2005, the number of immigrants rose slightly to 23,000, which is still dramatically lower than the 60,000 that immigrated in 2000. Furthermore, Israel became a net exporter of its citizens in 2003, when9,000 more Israelis left the country than entered, and in the first two months of 2004, this figure rose to 13,000

Read full article here

elegy for beirut

a link to a beautiful piece about beirut by Robert Fisk.

how it started

For some it inevitably brought to mind a bleak winter day in 1968 when, out of the blue, helicopter-borne Israeli commandos landed on the old airport and blew up 13 passenger jets, almost the entire fleet of the national carrier. The pretext: of two Palestinians who killed an Israeli at Athens airport, one came from a refugee camp in Lebanon, then an entirely peaceable country. The significance of this most spectacularly disproportionate reprisal was something the Lebanese could hardly even have guessed at then. But it was a very early portent of the long nightmare to come: military conflict with Israel, eventually to be compounded with an atrocious civil war that it did much to engender

and chomsky weighs in

No doubt Chomsky is correct when he states that Hizbollah’s daring assault exposes Lebanese people to the violence of the Zionist army. Chomsky offered no alternative. The Israeli state still occupies a section of Lebanon; it still infringes on Lebanese airspace; it still humiliates Arabs and occupies their land. What should Hizbollah do?

whats up in bay root ? (beirut)

http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Lebanon/200843

this is a good place to start reading on this topic.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_allen_l__060717_lebanon_is_an_outrag.htm

the zionist conspiracy point of view -
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m24725&l=i&size=1&hd=0

blogs banned

the indian government didnt like some blogs, so they asked the ISP's to censor those blogs ( ban them ) and the ISP's were too busy to do it, so they just banned the entire domain of xxx.blogspot.com and xxx.wordpress.com...leading to howls of rage from blogging nerds all over india. When the government was questioned on it, the response was " can you tell us what difference will it make to your life if you cant read a few webpages".. obviously some people havent heard of internet addiction yet.

guns on your shoulder

"The Israelis were yesterday trumpeting the fact that the missile was made in Iran as proof of Iran's involvement in the Lebanon war. This was odd reasoning. Since almost all the missiles used to kill the civilians of Lebanon over the past four days were made in Seattle, Duluth and Miami in the United States, their use already suggests to millions of Lebanese that America is behind the bombardment of their country. "



So the iranians and the american missiles are fighting each other. Why cant they fight each other directly as they seem to be itching to do...and why do they have to involve the jews ( who were persecuted by the europeans for so long that they have a permanent victim complex ) and the lebanese who are struggling to rebuild a country torn apart by war.

music @ the speed of thought

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4F8E27AA-89ED-4ADF-9BF3-D0FAD35FD676.htm
there you go....the musical coup inspired by zidane....its a good example of how speed of response and execution is becoming one of the most important factors in business now.

a train journey - rajneesh

Read a nice thing written by OSho ( Bhagwan Rajneesh , Acharyaji or whatever...this is just a nice description...)..you can read the page here..

Because I had slept, and there was now no need -- and it was night, a full-moon night -- I said to myself, "Enjoy yourself, go third class."

I had an air-conditioned-class ticket. When the ticket collector looked at my air-conditioned-class ticket and then looked at me, he thought I was crazy. I said, "You are right" He handed the ticket back to me."

He said, "This is strange. What are you doing here? Your seat is reserved and it is empty."

I said, "Let it be empty. If I get fed up with this experience I will come along."

He said, "What experience?"

I said, "You don't know what is happening here. If you want, you can stay with me just for one station."

He stayed and he said, "Really, it is an experience."

What was happening was at the station, the lights of the compartment would come on, and as we left the station behind the lights would go out. And ninety people in that small space... and who is pulling whose leg? It was such a joy! I enjoyed it like nothing else in my life.

A Hindu monk was sitting by my side. I was hitting his head, and he would tell me, "Osho, somebody is hitting me."

I said, "In the dark it is very difficult. Remain patient, and if you want to hit, hit anybody! There is no question of who is hitting who."

A woman who was sitting in an upper berth... somebody pulled her leg and she fell down. And she said, "This is strange -- someone is doing this to a woman. Who is this nasty fellow?"

In the darkness nobody could be identified as nasty, and as the next station appeared, everybody was sitting perfectly correctly. And in the station the lights would come on. If it had been the other way round things would have been simpler. If the compartment lights had gone out at the station, there would have been no problem because the station lights were there.

The train was going really crazy, and people were shouting in the darkness, "Somebody is pulling on my leg." And, "Who is this fellow?" And, "I will try to find out, but it will be difficult." "Please don't pull my leg!" -- but no answer came. In the third class it is certainly the real India you meet. In the air-conditioned, it is not part of India.

one of the rumours floating around

Reports from France suggest the following is the exchange that took place between the two.

Zidane holding his shirt says to to Materazzi:

ZZ: "Ordinanza de tirare il costume!!" (stop pulling on my shirt!!)

MM": "Taciti, enculo, hai solamente cio che merite..." (shut up f*cker, you only get what you deserve)

ZZ: "si e cio..." (yes, sure...)

While Zidane starts to move away, Materazzi goes:
MM: "meritate tutti ciò, voi gli enculato di musulmani, sporchi terroristici" (all of you deserve that, f*cking Muslims, terrorist b*stards)

et tu zidane?

so the world cup has ended. Football fever is over. Zidane has retired. After a beautiful flowing balletic performance against Brazil where he showed everyone what football could be like, Zidane could not sustain the enthusiasm against Italy. He probably felt that he didnt need to put up with this any longer, and any opponent who tweaked his nipple would have to pay for it. Also it was a deadened game, the Italians defending with 11 men in the goal and doggedly holding out for the penalty shootout. Zidane gave it his best, almost getting the winner when his header was just barely tipped over the crossbar by the Italian goalkeeper, Buffon.

What a display though. What a team. Beautiful passing, stout clean straightforward attacks. Sharp tough defending, clever and skilful midfield, ceaselessly running wingers, the panther like henry prowling upfront. This was truly a worthy team to play your last game with. They produced the few moments of brilliance in the final and a fairer world would have seen them win. However it was not to be. Italian football needed a boost and thats what it got. May the show go on. But you will never see the likes of Zidane again. Someone who grew up in the rough part of Marseille, a child of immigrants, a serious man who honed his craft in the toughest leagues in the world.

as he says in his own words " 'It's hard to explain but I have a need to play intensely every day, to fight every match hard,' he told me. 'And this desire never to stop fighting is something else I learnt in the place where I grew up. And, for me, the most important thing is that I still know who I am. Every day I think about where I come from and I am still proud to be who I am: first, a Kabyle from La Castellane, then an Algerian from Marseille, and then a Frenchman.'"

mexico

so the right wing candidate won in Mexico. It was a pretty well planned and smooth win. First someone hacked the leftist candidates website and put up a letter saying that if they lost then people should come out on the streets. The rightwingers made a huge fuss and got the leftists to publicly declare that they would peacefully accept the result of the election. Big Mistake :). A few days later the elections happened and surprise surprise, the rightwingers won by the narrowest of margins.

where did she go?

that girl who used to write the riverbend blog from baghdad hasnt posted anything since her last post a month ago which was about zarqawi.... i hope she is okay

riverbendblog.blogspot.com

been a long time since i up and wrote

its been quite a busy week..and mostly its been good. I find that sitting on the bottom of the swimming pool for a minute every day is very good for my thought patterns. After a few weeks of this underwater yoga, i am now seeing the world much more clearly. All the little mysteries of life and intrigues that surround us are laid bare and I confidently leap to answer any question that floats up in the air around me.

This leaping-to-answer-questions approach sometimes backfires. Like in a pub when a drunk guy asks aloud, "why is my wife such a bitch". Still I do get a sense of satisfaction on answering these questions and quickly moving on.

Some questions I could satisfactorily answer this week were -

Q : Who is going to win the world cup?
A : France. This because I never find anyone supporting the Les Bleus so it makes sense that they would win, since they seem to not need any support. Every other team has people wearing their shirts, praying and painting wierd stuff all over.

Q : Why did the stockmarket have to crash just now?
A : Because its the middle of the summer, most people go to the beach or mountains with their kids leaving subordinates in charge. These inexperienced people panick and are easily stampeded.

Q : We used to have surplus wheat rotting in warehouses, why is India having to import wheat now?
A : The wheat that was rotting finally rotted away, leaving the warehouses bare. The new crop was bought by the foreign companies, and now they are selling it back to us.

Q: Whats Bill Gates' foundation gonna do with all the money?
A : I refer you to this article - "Gates gives 500 hookers smart cards" . Its just the start, soon they will get blackberry's too, 500 today, tomorrow the world.

Q: When is the monsoon gonna come?
A: Look outside the window. Its raining.

Q: Why is petrol and diesel becoming so expensive?
A: To discourage people from driving so much. The environmentalist maniacs have persuaded governments to take this step.

Q: What will happen when we run out of petrol?
A: We will walk or teleconference.

facts of the day

3500 people die in train accidents in Mumbai every year.

30,000 foreigners are working in India currently.

Dharavi, the largest slum in Mumbai and India, has a GDP of $1 Billion.

amarnath

Every year devout hindus trudge up the mountains, braving the kashmiri militants, to offer prayers at the amarnath cave. This cave has a naturally occuring Shivalingam, a ice formation that resembles the traditional round headed obelisk that symbolises lord shiva. This year the ice shivlinga looks funny and there are stories that say that global warming has led to the non-appearance of the shivalingam and the one that is being worshipped as the very symbol of Lord Shiva- is fake! Newspapers have printed before and after pictures which do add credence to this theory. The current shivalinga looks very much like a stone and cement and white paint job. Its rather too geometrical to be a natural ice formation. This is one story that we are all following eagerly as it mixes global warming and conspiracy theories witha healthy dose of religion and geopolitics thrown in..

quote of the day

Joey Adams - "Marriage is give and take. You'd better give it to her or she'll take it anyway."

travel memories

2 August, 1998 Delhi. I’m waiting to collect my salary. Elsewhere Arshad was doing the same and we were to meet on the Brahmaputra Express. I just made it and soon spotted an outsized grin coming towards me. "Arshad Miya" I yelled and we got settled in. Two young girls, their mother and three tough guys made up our cabin.

At night a hand slithered down over the girl sleeping in the lower bunk. She shriveled into a corner. The train clanged over the moonlit swollen Son River and I saw the scene being repeated with her sister. I walked down and found a railway constable, offered him a cigarette. We had to come back to my cubicle for matches ;)

In the morning they (not the guys) shared breakfast with us and we got off at Alipurduar with a mother’s blessing warm on our foreheads. The trip was on.

sad but true

America is drowning in the shame of war crimes. One monstrous slaughter of civilians after another, each denied and covered up until brought to light by photos and eye witnesses. The once proud US Marines, unable to defeat the resistance that is picking them off one by one, is now a frustrated, demoralized force that is getting even by murdering 3-month old babies and old women

some thoughts

well its a sunny day here in gurgaon...the monsoon seems to have disintegrated and only a few wispy clouds drift across the sky. So many things happening here in india, and mostly its all bad news..lets do a quick round up of what these last few weeks have been like.

1. The great indian reservation saga - this still commands some space in the newspapers. Unfortunately only the top 5% of indians earn more than 500 dollars a year and yet they claim to be the middle class of india. They are visibly agitated because of certain government moves which aim to please the underpriveleged castes in india, by granting them reservations in colleges and jobs. This has raised howls of protest from doctors, engineers and suchlike, and they claim that this move would lead to a lowering of standards in Indian education and industry. Noisy visible protests are being staged and most people after protesting realise that they miss their air conditioning more and beat a hasty retreat. The government wants the votes of the 95% of the population and the money from the 5% of the population and is trying to please everyone and failing spectacularly. The searing heat has stopped all the protests and most people are now indoors conducting discussions and negotiations in the shade of split-unit airconditioning plants.

2. Fuel price hike - Every rupee that an indian pays for petrol, half of it goes to the government in the form of taxes. This is because petrol is considered a luxury item :). Petrol costs 1 dollar per litre here. If you remember from above, 5% of indians earn more than 500 dollars a year. So it definitely is a luxury. In the aftermath of global fuel price hikes, thanks to our new pal, George Bush and his middle east adventure, the prices of petrol and diesel were raised by about 10%. This led to howls of protest from opposition parties, threats of agitations and strikes and might have led to acts of self-immolation ( burning oneself alive - a standard protest form in india ) were it not for the fact that it would be too expensive. The summer heat derailed these protests too, and the concerned parties are holding press conferences in air conditioned meeting rooms.

3. Stock Market Meltdown- This is a painful topic, because yours truly believes in putting all his savings in stock markets, specially in the riskier stocks, which have a habit of diving down like a soccer centre forward when approached by a defender. The markets have been falling and keep on falling, 33% in just over a month down, and there seems to be no end in sight. This bear hug is painful and specially for the less than 1% of indians who own any shares whatsoever. All the incredible india stories now seem jaded, the summer heat, the failing monsoon, the cynical government, the rising cost of oil, the global downturn are the new stories of the day. If this moves your heart, please send a  cheque to me .... i am 33% poorer than before.

4. One in every two Indian children is malnourished - 90% of india's rural family spend over 60% of their income on food. Against this backdrop, it is understandable that there was very little rejoicing when the price of wheat was incresed. Parts of india are so poor and backward that people starve to death. In this hot summer there will be countless tragedies that happen in villages and towns. Dead bodies lying by the roadside as the cars whizz by. Mothers starving to death as they try to keep their children alive. Farmers eating rat poison to escape the indignity of life where their children scream all day of hunger. Government schemes will be launched and fat officials will become fatter. The old farmer sitting on a dry piece of earth, looking to the heavens for signs of rain knows that no one will help him, only the gods can do something and he prays that they send him a raincloud or two which softens the earth below his feet, so he can hitch a iron plough to his 100 pound 60 year old body and till the soil and try and raise a few crops which will feed his family.....we all pray for those clouds...but it seems this year  the weather patterns are disturbed and the monsoon is not moving forward as it should...and we all wait anxiously. It is in June that we realise that this poor beautiful lonely little country still lives and breathes because of the grace of god and his clouds. All the computers and all the dams and all the government schemes are forgotten and only the clouds matter now.