All in good faith!

So here i visit a temple and see these big charts put up along with a Nariyal ki maala. The names on the charts read: Enjoy Group (8th maal), Tiger Group, Rapture Group, Only Friends Group (mind you!), New Generation Group (just anachronistic) and some such others.

Quite an enthusiastic bunch eh? Yeah these are the same ones who dance wildly (but in good faith!) in front of a wall of speakers that is fitted in a vehicle carrying a decorated pandal. No, they are not drunk! How can you even think of that? So what if they dance like they are inebriated, or leer at the chicks who pass by, or treat the boys along with these girls with contempt! No, it is just in good faith!

So the procession goes across moving at a pace that matches the rate at which the Harry Potter movies are released, sound which matches the inside of a very loud multiplex, and spirits which match a new years party. No, I don't mean they are drunk, they are just in good spirits faith! Then they reach the Mandir and donate the maala and move on. Probably to the nearest bar / tharra joint depending on the political support. (Come on now, they do so much hard work, don't they deserve this?)

Civic sense? What is that? They just know hic... hic... sense! All in very good faith!

PS: Check out this awesome post by one StupidusMaximus. Very good read!

About Love

This piece is really touching -

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

By Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

And why to Tweet?

Most of us are on Facebook. Most of us update our status regularly. Some of us do it to present a funny line, some to follow others who are writing about recent topics (like all those Rajnikanth jokes), some to tell others that "This is what i am doing right now, and i would just like to make you feel bad" (Like, I am in LA and going to have this weekend party in Vegas, I am sipping a Margarita on a weekday, I got this, I got that... Also, i love animals and help me protect them while i go hunt for my Gucci leather handbags).

And then there are some who update status messages more than once a day, hoping to elicit some response, hoping to hit certain spots. There are also some highly cryptic updates and you expect to stir some kinda of responses... And this is where Twitter can help you.

Twitter, mind you, is not a Social Networking website. It is a Social Broadcasting platform, a much over-used term for it being 'micro-blogging'. Here, loads of people throng, follow you, respond to you, put you on lists, black-lists, make fun of you, join you in making fun of others and beyond all this, converse with you. Unknown folks, hiding behind a handle and a DP. That is the amazing part of Twitter.

On Twitter, you can say anything and everything that you want (No holds barred till a point though!), crack all sorts of jokes and keep mum. If someone likes it they will respond. There is no 'like' button, mind you, that will feed your ego. There are different set of comments. You can take your rants to Twitter instead of FB! (Rant less though because people still read!)

Once you form a small community (metaphorically speaking) on Twitter, you would know what it is all about. You associate handles with people. Ok, @so and so is a pun master, @so and so cracks very good jokes about current affairs, @so and so gets me the latest news (not breaking news mind you) even before they hit the newspapers! and so on! It is fun, entertaining and addictive at first and later fizzes out to a controllable degree.

It is very good if you follow the right people, and not just follow pretty people!

Well then what was the point of this post? Excitement that my Tweet got published on the second last page of the oh so widely read Pune Mirror? (I bet hardly few go beyond Watsa's column!) Angst about people updating their status often on Facebook? Confess that i am pretty much addicted to both Facebook and Twitter?

No. I just wanted to tell folks to try Twitter. At first, read what people write. Then write. Then you are on your own!

Symbols...

A festive season just gave way for a breather till the next one. Dassehra did make me think of some things. This was a FB status I had put up:

I think Raavana was and is a misunderstood soul... Just like Duryodhana from the other epic... They have become a symbol of hate, a hate that should have been directed at our own infected soul.

That made me think whether Symbols of Hate are probably more pure than the Symbols of Love. But then, what is more complicated? Hate or Love? What is more underrated? What is overrated? (I know some opinions about this already!)

And why do we require these symbols? Just to convince our self, consciously or subconsciously that the effigy or the Symbol trapped in the effigy is not what is within us when we hate?

Who knows... Who really knows...

Instincts and feelings

Life itself is a big storehouse for stories…

People you meet along the road, the strangers who become necessities… Moments that encompass your memories…

Some can be penned, most cannot be given justice… as the gap between the feeling and the thoughts and the words is a lot. Sometimes though one small word or a small smile, or just a coincidence takes you close to that original feeling. The moment. That defining moment...

But time drags you back… :)

Sometimes we have to run 100 M dash, sometimes the long and tiring marathon… But most of the times we are running the obstacle race… and sometimes we are blindfolded to make it more tough for us… So all we have is instincts!

Instincts and feelings… these are the most humane qualities… lets cherish them!

PS: I had written this in an e-mail while talking to some friends... Brought back some memories with it.

E-mail sent on the last day at work

Before you begin:

Remember the epic movie Titanic?

A scene that most of us might remember from that is the part when the boat is sinking and a group of guys decide to keep on playing the Violin because one of them leads the way. The others don’t go like, “Well I have completed my 45 hours and I can go,” or the main chap doesn’t say, “Guys complete your 9 hours like the cooks did before hitting the life boats”.
What does this tell us?

Violin players are the real committed artists! Even Sherlock Holmes used to play it!

About this task:

I hate the word LDAP. Not for the meanings attached to it, but is overuse! It should ideally mean Let’s Dance And Party! But no, with all the connotations from both the employers and the employees it has a different ring to it.

Either Leaving (before I get more) Depressed And Pathetic or Left Due (to) Angst (and) Pain, or just I am getting better roles and responsibilities (read pay)!

To each his own, I am just one of the rats in the rat race.

Procedure:

Since this is a mandatory field, I would just say that there comes a point in everyone’s life when they have to decide:

1. What to do next?
2. Where to go next?
3. What steps to climb?
4. What branch to hang on?
5. Where to fly?

Well I have just started thinking about all this and need time to figure out the answers to these questions. But for now they lead me to more questions. This had started hampering my work and then I decided to be nice to my nice employer, team mates and wonderful people out here.
Why should I trouble you more with my idiosyncrasies or the verbose manifestations of my astral journeys? Let me carry my burden and take it out in the open.

So on and so forth.
For more information see Related Tasks.

What to do next:

Politics? (Some say I am too diplomatic.)
Acting? (Those who have read my blog know about my versatile acting skills.)
NGO? (Yes Yes, I want to save the world too.)
Mafia? (You can then choose to be on the safer side, if you know what I mean.)
Restaurateur? (I will give you food on discount ok, not free! Before you start asking me for free food, remember there is no free lunch/dinner.)

And the list will grow, for more information see Related Tasks.

Related tasks:

So if you wish to be a kind soul to me (I already know that you are very kind and genuine at heart. I really respect you. If ‘you’ know who ‘you’ is, you would know! But I know that asking to be kind to me could be a daunting task for you.), and keep in touch, you can always find me at:

gmail.com
www.facebook.com
http://in.linkedin.com

You will find most of the facets of my personality here. Rest is hidden!

So, with a genuine warm expression of gratitude for all the support that you have extended towards me, I say Bye!

See you on the other side.

On hating prejudiced people

Just another FB status update and the comments on the status. Opinions are welcome and subject to readers attention and agreement / disagreement. :)

K: It's easy to hate prejudiced people...

AG: Oh the irony!

K: Paradoxical!

BK: No it's not easy.

HS: What if they are prejudiced in your favor?

K: ‎@BK- Then someone else might hate/dislike them.

BK: What I mean is that if you go deep in their thoughts and beliefs you'll find it reasonable somehow, we may not like it, yes its natural ;)

K: Someone understanding and humble might handle it the way you have put it.

RP: How right.. And at least one person seems to bump into you every day.

Tj: Prejudiced people are fun when they can back their kooky ideas with logic, a waste of time if not. So I guess I either love them or ignore them.

DT: Yeah and it is fun to play with their mind time and again. :P

Tj: ‎@DT Evil but incredibly fun to watch them go off, the truly prejudiced ones are usually parroting ideas so used, u wonder if they were ever new.

K: ‎@RP and DT - I totally agree with you guys, when prejudiced people start justifying their beliefs with unreasonable ideas, it is fun to argue with them. So, once you get over the hate/dislike, the habitual prejudiced folks are fun, eh?

Tj: Most certainly....I remember setting off a certain Political Party fan and every time we poked a hole in his theory he would basically repeat it as if that somehow answered the question...

Tj: On a different note I remember telling one of our HR that it's not that she doesn't get my point but that she does not want to get it, she hated hearing that but then HR are supposed to always smile and be nice, so she had to take it.

K ‎@Tj - Awesome stuff to the HR dude. Also regarding the Political Party fellow. That's a typical disaster management type of a thing when ones beliefs get shattered. Like, close your eyes and ears and repeat your (debated) belief to yourself so that it still withstands at least in your mind! :)

What do you say?

My Acting Portfolio

Well, not everyone gets a chance to enact a Tree in a play right? I was opportune enough to get to play a Tree and that too, a Tree with a personality! I had to get into the Tree's character, sway right and stand still. Like an immovable object and irresistible force, yeah? This would be the most glorious role I have played so far.

Of course I have played other roles like a Ball Dancer in the background, a Spectator in the background, an Old Man with a stick and no dialogues, a British Army General who is defeated by Jhansi Ki Rani and then Persephone from The Matrix spoof.

Yes the ballroom dance indeed demanded me to be at my suave best, what with dancing gracefully and all. So what if the play is happening in front and the main characters have the dialogues. The dancers added charm to the play! And the Spectator in the background? What's the point of announcing something publicly on a stage if you don't have skillful and attentive spectators?

So was with playing the Old Man! Come on, just emptying an entire bottle of talcum powder in the hair to make them seem white won't really work! One should also learn to handle the walking stick well, learn to be sophisticated after wearing suspenders, and in general create a very senile impact in a very short time!

What more do I say about being a British General? You know how these are right? Carry the Gun, Carry the Glory, Carry the belligerent attitude... so overall a lot to carry! On top of that, get shot by Jhansi ki Rani, act really hurt and pass out gracefully. All this in a minute flat. Quite challenging eh?

But the challenge that surpassed it all was playing a woman and that too enacting the oh so awesome Monica Belluci (Persephone) from The Matrix. Well, since it was strictly an all boys play to poke some fun at the girls in the class and the fact that it had all crazy Bollywood characters enacting the characters from Matrix (Shahrukh playing Neo, Amitabh playing Morpheus, Shakti Kapoor playing Agent Smith, Trinity obviously Kajol and others who just played their roles), it was super fun! I had to dress like a drag, walk like a girl and dance with Shakti Kapoor on the Raja Babu epic Aa Aa Eee Oo Oo O, Mera Dil Nah Todo. I think I overwhelmed myself with that performance!

I have come a long way, the acting journey has been good so far. You think I should seriously think of a career in acting?