..aur baar baar mere zehen mein ek hi gana aa raha hai:
"Nau saal pehele mujhe tumse pyaar tha...aaj bhi hain aur kal bhi rahega"
Toh kya hua agar Sau ko Nau banaya...gana toh theek baith raha hai na?
It's been a heck of a journey, these nine years and more. Here's how we met against pretty strong odds: http://rachnasays.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-knight-in-shining-armor.html
I mean what are the odds for two people to meet, one from mumbai and one from hyderabad, studied in different B-schools and worked at different places. Imagine, had I met her before the ad in Jeevansathi and told her that "u, yes U will be marrying me. So I am going to put arm around your waist like this" what would her reaction be? I'd be getting a resounding slap, right? So, what's the way to be able to do this rightly? It goes through Jeevansathi.com :)
What can you say about a simple cosmopolitan Mumbaiite girl who loves her family unconditionally with the same fervor as she loves her alu-badiya dishes :) She is a UPite but she has the sophistication and polish of a British royal. In my 9 years of marriage I must've heard her fart(more of a whimper, if u ask me, which needed to be confirmed that it was a fart), maybe, 3 times. I haven't seen her pick her nose ever. English and hindi are probably the only languages she know but her knowledge of them are impeccable. I still discover new hindi words from her even to this day :) She might not know why the 3 pin plug is not going into a two pin socket but she knows how and why our body functions. She is a walking-talking human encyclopeadia but she also admits that she discovered a lot of amazing human features only after marriage, which she feels is super-human ;)
She always know what is the right thing to do in any given scenario. No wonder that she has never had any problems with her in-laws ever! That doesn't mean that we haven't had our share of tiffs. But that is only because I am the most stuck up, boorish and tactless person in an area 50 kms around me. She's the kind of tension difuser the sorts which I haven't seen before her. She'll be the one to open up conversation lines with me even if she's mad at me, of course for bad things said/done by her due to my misbehavior(read above) ;) She's the darling of the kids because she's the best mom that is ever possible, unless, of course, if they step on her nerves on a wrong day.
I do injustice to her beauty by taunting her with my innumerous-virtual-hot-girlfriends :) But somebody has to be there to do the clowning around and keeping up the giggles in the marriage, right? Jokes aside, I take this day to tell her that she's the most beautiful woman I know inside and outside and I can't imagine life without her. This must the be the most romantic thing I have ever said even secretly ;)
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Formula to get your own state
Very nice! KCR has evolved a Do-it-Yourself-at-Home formula to get your own state. Following is the formula:
- Purchase student leaders in the major cities with promises that they'll get leadership positions when their state forms. The destructive..er...disruptive force that students wield during protests can never be too underestimated. Police cen't use excessive force against them too for the fear of escalating tensions into a civil war.
- Make the regional leader go on a fast-unto-death amidst a sprinkling of violence/arson/loot from the students you have purchased. All the while escalating the protests cum violence levels a notch more everyday.
- Nearing the 6th day of the fast put the region on a complete halt with our well-known protest called Bandh.
- Use our 24X7 media as a catalyst in the whole process by showing the ever increasing protests on TV and the regional politicians unleash venom on the government.
- As soon as the doctors attending the fast-unto-death politician declare that he is in mortal danger of slipping into coma/death the center will blink and say "Yes" to the new state.
- There is going to be a lot of rejoicing and also demands for pardon to the "patriotic" students who had indulged in arson/loot during protests.
- Profit!!!!
Monday, November 30, 2009
People, I am going positive
Just the other day I was reflecting on my online history and I discovered that I only write negative things!!! Negative about our President, Prime Minister, Heroes, Heroines and almost everyone. For a bystander it may seem that I no longer seem to have anything positive to say about anyone. I know it's not the case. The actual case is this. I take the effort to write only if it is anything negative about anything! And I pass it off in the garb of humor. I don't know from where I have took that inspiration or when it began, but it looks like I was emulating a columnist or an editorial. Nobody writes a column on positives of anything unless it is about spirituality, right? Look at Shobha De, Khushwant Singh, Vir Sanghvi, etc.
I am putting an end to it now, on the records. Even if I have to write something negative I am going to force myself to write 2 things positive about the person or thing. If I don't do it flog me publicly, people :)
As a first step I've deleted some immensely negative sounding articles from my blog. Please point me any article that still needs to be removed. Thanks!
I am putting an end to it now, on the records. Even if I have to write something negative I am going to force myself to write 2 things positive about the person or thing. If I don't do it flog me publicly, people :)
As a first step I've deleted some immensely negative sounding articles from my blog. Please point me any article that still needs to be removed. Thanks!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
My second rant on Big Boss 3
Ah! Yesterday's BB was an episode nobody will forget in a hurry. BB opened the session for nominations and we were on the edge of our seats to know who the new guys will nominate and whether Bakhtiyar is still in the cross-eye of the evil-five(Vindu, Rohit, Raju, Poonam, Claudia). We were also eager to see how BB deals with the way Vindu, Rohit and Raju discuss nominations so freely. And an edge-seater the episode turned out to be.
BB let Poonam, Pravesh, Vinod, Bakhtiyar, Aditi and Claudia cast their nominations. And the killer blow - Vindu, Rohit and Raju, basically, lost their previlige to cast their nominations. And the other killer-killer blow: All six who got to nominate got nominated - Bakhtiyar, Pravesh and Aditi with 3 votes each and Claudia, Vinod and Poonam with one vote each. The damndest thing of these nominations is gonna be that a person with one vote is going to leave BB this week(my hunch is Claudia). Then the Killerest blow - BB showed all the contestants a prolonged video of how Vindu, Rohit and Raju discuss nominations. All the while Vindu(the scum of the earth) and Rohit(the sni-bitch of the world) were laughing at eachother. And Raju later clarifies with Vinod that he was just lending an ear to the planner and that he could not alight out of a moving train. Later in the evening Rohit has a nervous break-down when the magnitude of the event dawns on him/her. But he has shown such drama before. So can't tell if his "evilness" has reduced.
Poonam Dhillon got to talk to her children on the gift that Tanaaz gave her before she left BB. I was surprised that her children were telling her that they were proud of the way she is playing. Thankfully, she showed that she still has some human element in her by not nominating Bakhtiyar. But this woman is still the weirdest woman in BB3. She never displays strong feelings even after seeing her supposed allies bitch and plan about her. I, personally, detest people who do not show their true emotions and slyly indulge in the game.
Pravesh - I had high hopes on this guy. But turned out to be a damp squib. He nominated Bakhtiyar and Aditi, in alliance with the evil-axis, and without displaying any tangible reason.
Bakhtiyar - as if you haven't guessed by now, I love this guy. He has until now played a clean game and is extremely emotional(this is not the reason i like him). I like him because he shows his true emotions. But he sure can work on the amount of crying he does.
Claudia - The dumb-bimbo of the show does her nominations for petty things and things that she doesn't understand and most of all because of opinions formed by things told to her by others. I'd be glad to see her go out this week.
Another guy who has played cleanly is Vinod Kambli. Surprisingly, I hated him when he came in. So, I tell myself again, not to judge a book from its cover.
Just when I was planning to quit watching BB because of it's similarities with the daily soaps where everyone is scheming against everyone else, comes a redeemer of an episode. I am hoping to see a new alliance forming with a few misunderstandings clearing up and the evil-axis shutting their trap and leaving the BB mansion one by one.
BB let Poonam, Pravesh, Vinod, Bakhtiyar, Aditi and Claudia cast their nominations. And the killer blow - Vindu, Rohit and Raju, basically, lost their previlige to cast their nominations. And the other killer-killer blow: All six who got to nominate got nominated - Bakhtiyar, Pravesh and Aditi with 3 votes each and Claudia, Vinod and Poonam with one vote each. The damndest thing of these nominations is gonna be that a person with one vote is going to leave BB this week(my hunch is Claudia). Then the Killerest blow - BB showed all the contestants a prolonged video of how Vindu, Rohit and Raju discuss nominations. All the while Vindu(the scum of the earth) and Rohit(the sni-bitch of the world) were laughing at eachother. And Raju later clarifies with Vinod that he was just lending an ear to the planner and that he could not alight out of a moving train. Later in the evening Rohit has a nervous break-down when the magnitude of the event dawns on him/her. But he has shown such drama before. So can't tell if his "evilness" has reduced.
Poonam Dhillon got to talk to her children on the gift that Tanaaz gave her before she left BB. I was surprised that her children were telling her that they were proud of the way she is playing. Thankfully, she showed that she still has some human element in her by not nominating Bakhtiyar. But this woman is still the weirdest woman in BB3. She never displays strong feelings even after seeing her supposed allies bitch and plan about her. I, personally, detest people who do not show their true emotions and slyly indulge in the game.
Pravesh - I had high hopes on this guy. But turned out to be a damp squib. He nominated Bakhtiyar and Aditi, in alliance with the evil-axis, and without displaying any tangible reason.
Bakhtiyar - as if you haven't guessed by now, I love this guy. He has until now played a clean game and is extremely emotional(this is not the reason i like him). I like him because he shows his true emotions. But he sure can work on the amount of crying he does.
Claudia - The dumb-bimbo of the show does her nominations for petty things and things that she doesn't understand and most of all because of opinions formed by things told to her by others. I'd be glad to see her go out this week.
Another guy who has played cleanly is Vinod Kambli. Surprisingly, I hated him when he came in. So, I tell myself again, not to judge a book from its cover.
Just when I was planning to quit watching BB because of it's similarities with the daily soaps where everyone is scheming against everyone else, comes a redeemer of an episode. I am hoping to see a new alliance forming with a few misunderstandings clearing up and the evil-axis shutting their trap and leaving the BB mansion one by one.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
My first rant on Big Boss 3
My first post on the happenings of BB3 after week 4, or is it 5? Finally, it seems like all the characters are unravelling.
Yesterday was nominations. I thought Vindu would be the person who’d get maximum votes in it. But came to a conclusion that you can never tell how a woman thinks! You would think that after how Vindu behaved with Sherlyn before she left BB3 house all right minded women would first vote for him. But I was wrong to think in that way. Apparently, there is a bigger concern for women than utter disrespect to womankind. And what is that? Somebody bitching about them behind their backs. Two out of every five women are more concerned with bitching behind their backs.
Shamita, oh how i hate such over-sugary treats. She is a one sickeningly sweet personality who’d be okay if she kept her mouth shut. Every week she’ll nominate her two housemates with loads of sorries and they are actually very good people syrups. This woman lacks conviction. She lacks a vent for her pent-up feelings. Oh wait! Are her tears her vents? If so then she is venting fine :)
Raju Srivastav, this person was in the reckoning for the title. But he had to play politics. Like they say, you can’t keep politics out of a UPite or a Bihari. I am hardly a person who would spend Rs.3 to save a person. But I had thought that I’d save him if he ever was nominated. But this week he lost that privilege from me and the wifey.
Rohit Verma, the weirdo in the house. Every season BB tries to put in a weirdo like this. And mostly they are lucky if they survive two weeks in the house amidst the intensely hostile housemates. This one is a eunuch. First few weeks our sympathies were with him/her. But he has turned out to be the most potent snitch in the world. Now, how I wish Kamal was back to get a piece of his ass :)
Vindu, an example of a failure son of a famous actor. He is the motor-mouth, rambler, mentalcase, empty-head of the house. The whole of India is wondering why this loser is in Big Boss. Nobody is even vaguely aware of his anticidents to merit a berth in BB, except that he is a son of a Famous Shwarzneggeriesh Indian actor. BTW, BB fared miserably in selecting it’s contestants. Jaya, Vindu, Claudia, Kamal, Rohit – we hardly knew them. The trash of BB3. I’ll be glad to see Vindu leaving from the house.
Yesterday, BB made the nominations an open affair because most of the participants were planning nominations with eachother. This was fair to the people who planned their nominations b4 hand but it seemed unfair to those who didn’t. But what to do…aisa hain toh hain. Everyone came to know the true colors of each other. The planners couldn’t change their plans lest they’d be thought of as cheats in front of those who they planned with. Tanaaz and Bakhtiyar were together nominated with overwhelming majority with 6 votes each. Next in number of votes were Vindu and Ismail with 4 each. When everybody was thinking that only Tanaaz and Bakhtiyar were the only two who’d get nominated BB played the trump by nominating Vindu and Ismail too. I think it makes commercial sense to the channel as people would hardly vote to save one of the couple. Who’d they vote for? But now they’d get overwhelming number of votes. They’ve already got 4 votes from our house. 2 to tanaaz and 2 to bakhtiyar, one from each one of us. Yes, we voted for the first time yesterday. I guess, we are trapped into the charm of what is BB :) As far as what we’ve seen BB3 and we think we’ve seen 95% of that stuff :) we think Bakhtiyar and Tanaaz have been true to their self. Even Raju has fallen by the roadside.
Does it mean that BB will try to get them nominated to drawn in huge votes? Let’s see what the coming days bring us.
Yesterday was nominations. I thought Vindu would be the person who’d get maximum votes in it. But came to a conclusion that you can never tell how a woman thinks! You would think that after how Vindu behaved with Sherlyn before she left BB3 house all right minded women would first vote for him. But I was wrong to think in that way. Apparently, there is a bigger concern for women than utter disrespect to womankind. And what is that? Somebody bitching about them behind their backs. Two out of every five women are more concerned with bitching behind their backs.
Shamita, oh how i hate such over-sugary treats. She is a one sickeningly sweet personality who’d be okay if she kept her mouth shut. Every week she’ll nominate her two housemates with loads of sorries and they are actually very good people syrups. This woman lacks conviction. She lacks a vent for her pent-up feelings. Oh wait! Are her tears her vents? If so then she is venting fine :)
Raju Srivastav, this person was in the reckoning for the title. But he had to play politics. Like they say, you can’t keep politics out of a UPite or a Bihari. I am hardly a person who would spend Rs.3 to save a person. But I had thought that I’d save him if he ever was nominated. But this week he lost that privilege from me and the wifey.
Rohit Verma, the weirdo in the house. Every season BB tries to put in a weirdo like this. And mostly they are lucky if they survive two weeks in the house amidst the intensely hostile housemates. This one is a eunuch. First few weeks our sympathies were with him/her. But he has turned out to be the most potent snitch in the world. Now, how I wish Kamal was back to get a piece of his ass :)
Vindu, an example of a failure son of a famous actor. He is the motor-mouth, rambler, mentalcase, empty-head of the house. The whole of India is wondering why this loser is in Big Boss. Nobody is even vaguely aware of his anticidents to merit a berth in BB, except that he is a son of a Famous Shwarzneggeriesh Indian actor. BTW, BB fared miserably in selecting it’s contestants. Jaya, Vindu, Claudia, Kamal, Rohit – we hardly knew them. The trash of BB3. I’ll be glad to see Vindu leaving from the house.
Yesterday, BB made the nominations an open affair because most of the participants were planning nominations with eachother. This was fair to the people who planned their nominations b4 hand but it seemed unfair to those who didn’t. But what to do…aisa hain toh hain. Everyone came to know the true colors of each other. The planners couldn’t change their plans lest they’d be thought of as cheats in front of those who they planned with. Tanaaz and Bakhtiyar were together nominated with overwhelming majority with 6 votes each. Next in number of votes were Vindu and Ismail with 4 each. When everybody was thinking that only Tanaaz and Bakhtiyar were the only two who’d get nominated BB played the trump by nominating Vindu and Ismail too. I think it makes commercial sense to the channel as people would hardly vote to save one of the couple. Who’d they vote for? But now they’d get overwhelming number of votes. They’ve already got 4 votes from our house. 2 to tanaaz and 2 to bakhtiyar, one from each one of us. Yes, we voted for the first time yesterday. I guess, we are trapped into the charm of what is BB :) As far as what we’ve seen BB3 and we think we’ve seen 95% of that stuff :) we think Bakhtiyar and Tanaaz have been true to their self. Even Raju has fallen by the roadside.
Does it mean that BB will try to get them nominated to drawn in huge votes? Let’s see what the coming days bring us.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Review of VGP Golden Beach Resort, Chennai
We visited this resort for one day on Sep 24 '09. We were actually visiting Pondicherry when we thought that we must also pay a visit to Mahabalipuram before we left to Bangalore. That is when we struck upon an idea of staying in seaside resort nearby. Somebody had suggested to us this resort. So ,we had called up VGP to book for two nights of stay and the person made our booking without even taking any down payment. We were a bit uneasy about it. But later realised what a big blessing it was!
As if the hot and humid weather of Chennai wasn't enough of a spoilsport, VGP resort did its best to aggravate the feeling. Since it was so hot and humid we decided that we'll stay here only for one night and the reception didn't make a fuss about our initial 2 night booking we had made on phone, thanks to him:).
First, about the overall property. They have a vast estate but very ill-maintained. There are umpteem figurines lining the whole estate but they look like straight out of a horror movie. There were stray dogs all over the place but not aggressive(thanks to the small mercies), more on them later.
We had taken the sea-facing row-house for Rs.2000(+250tax). The room was big but again ill-maintained. It had a damp smell in it. The bed sheet hardly covered the mattress and kept coming off if we slept on it. There was no blanket in the room. There was one sofa kept there which had holes in it with an old looking cloth upholstery. There was one coffee table with an old and torn rag on top of it. Why even bother covering it, I ask? The A/C had no swing fins! Its remote was not working. The TV did not have a remote. And the channels were all fuzzy-wuzzy-the house-keeping would later explain to us that it is the same for all rooms as a great consolation. There was no drinking water kept in the room.
The house keeping was another nightmare. When we called them up to ask them for water, remote for TV, etc they couldn't speak in english. They knew only Tamil. Other times they were giggling and passing the phone around. When asked for drinking water they said that we could take the water from the garden! Even the room service was lousy. Again only Tamil speaking staff and the food was pricey and greasy.
Nightmare of nightmares, we were shook off our lounging in our room by a thundering sound outside the room followed by a dog's squeals. We thought something big must've fallen on one of those listless stray dogs outside. When I went out and enquired from the house-keeping staff hovering outside the room, we were told that they were shooting down dogs!!! And we were thinking of going out to have our dinner outside the resort. It's another story that we did go out, didn't wanting to bother with their hopeless staff. We saw men dragging a dead dog when were coming back(was I relieved that it was not a dead person or what!) and my younger son kept asking why they were doing so! :( We could hear gunshots until early morning of the next day.
We were glad when it was 8am when we started checking out and fled from the place. Thank god they didn't take money for 2 nights of stay in the first place!
As if the hot and humid weather of Chennai wasn't enough of a spoilsport, VGP resort did its best to aggravate the feeling. Since it was so hot and humid we decided that we'll stay here only for one night and the reception didn't make a fuss about our initial 2 night booking we had made on phone, thanks to him:).
First, about the overall property. They have a vast estate but very ill-maintained. There are umpteem figurines lining the whole estate but they look like straight out of a horror movie. There were stray dogs all over the place but not aggressive(thanks to the small mercies), more on them later.
We had taken the sea-facing row-house for Rs.2000(+250tax). The room was big but again ill-maintained. It had a damp smell in it. The bed sheet hardly covered the mattress and kept coming off if we slept on it. There was no blanket in the room. There was one sofa kept there which had holes in it with an old looking cloth upholstery. There was one coffee table with an old and torn rag on top of it. Why even bother covering it, I ask? The A/C had no swing fins! Its remote was not working. The TV did not have a remote. And the channels were all fuzzy-wuzzy-the house-keeping would later explain to us that it is the same for all rooms as a great consolation. There was no drinking water kept in the room.
The house keeping was another nightmare. When we called them up to ask them for water, remote for TV, etc they couldn't speak in english. They knew only Tamil. Other times they were giggling and passing the phone around. When asked for drinking water they said that we could take the water from the garden! Even the room service was lousy. Again only Tamil speaking staff and the food was pricey and greasy.
Nightmare of nightmares, we were shook off our lounging in our room by a thundering sound outside the room followed by a dog's squeals. We thought something big must've fallen on one of those listless stray dogs outside. When I went out and enquired from the house-keeping staff hovering outside the room, we were told that they were shooting down dogs!!! And we were thinking of going out to have our dinner outside the resort. It's another story that we did go out, didn't wanting to bother with their hopeless staff. We saw men dragging a dead dog when were coming back(was I relieved that it was not a dead person or what!) and my younger son kept asking why they were doing so! :( We could hear gunshots until early morning of the next day.
We were glad when it was 8am when we started checking out and fled from the place. Thank god they didn't take money for 2 nights of stay in the first place!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Most essential software that I install on my computer after a fresh OS install
That was a heck of a long title, wasn't it? But helps in search engine tagging ;)
Ok, so, the past few days I've been busy with the re-install of the OS of my company laptop. And I am just about to get my new laptop. So, I thought that it would be a good idea to list down the basic essential software I would spend time downloading and installing. Here it goes:
1. First and foremost would be Firefox without any questions. Not if I were installing a linux system on my machine, though, because all the flavors of linux come with Firefox as the default browser.
2. My corporate laptop came with WinZip already but an archive handler IMO is the next important thing anyone would need on their computer. WinZip is commercial but there are infinite options for a free archive handlers as well.
3. PDF file reader! I have grown fond of FoxReader as opposed to Acrobat. Adobe acrobat is sly fat lady of pdf readers. It occupies huge memory, it takes long to load and it keeps downloading latest versions on its own. I don't like it one bit.
4. VLC media player for playing ANY video file. There is no replacement of vlc in this department. There is no media player that will play any media file out of the box(OTB).
5. Pidgin, for IMing. Pidgin is real nifty with support for many proprietary IM clients like yahoo, gtalk, msn, etc.
6. TweetDeck, for the twitter client.
7. For some java related stuff that I have in which I store my personal information I need a JDK. So, a jdk is next in line.
8. I would like to have a copy of Eclipse for that occasional outburst of programming. And these days I am checking out Android. Therefore, the android SDK is next.
9. My corporate laptop has Microsoft office pre-loaded. But on linux/Mac OSX I'd need something like OpenOffice for that occasional document that I need to create or view. Many linux flavors already come packaged with a copy of OpenOffice.
10. Ah, did I forget the flash plugin download the browser will make you do to watch anything on youtube?
Please add a comment if you feel there is something I missed.
Ok, so, the past few days I've been busy with the re-install of the OS of my company laptop. And I am just about to get my new laptop. So, I thought that it would be a good idea to list down the basic essential software I would spend time downloading and installing. Here it goes:
1. First and foremost would be Firefox without any questions. Not if I were installing a linux system on my machine, though, because all the flavors of linux come with Firefox as the default browser.
2. My corporate laptop came with WinZip already but an archive handler IMO is the next important thing anyone would need on their computer. WinZip is commercial but there are infinite options for a free archive handlers as well.
3. PDF file reader! I have grown fond of FoxReader as opposed to Acrobat. Adobe acrobat is sly fat lady of pdf readers. It occupies huge memory, it takes long to load and it keeps downloading latest versions on its own. I don't like it one bit.
4. VLC media player for playing ANY video file. There is no replacement of vlc in this department. There is no media player that will play any media file out of the box(OTB).
5. Pidgin, for IMing. Pidgin is real nifty with support for many proprietary IM clients like yahoo, gtalk, msn, etc.
6. TweetDeck, for the twitter client.
7. For some java related stuff that I have in which I store my personal information I need a JDK. So, a jdk is next in line.
8. I would like to have a copy of Eclipse for that occasional outburst of programming. And these days I am checking out Android. Therefore, the android SDK is next.
9. My corporate laptop has Microsoft office pre-loaded. But on linux/Mac OSX I'd need something like OpenOffice for that occasional document that I need to create or view. Many linux flavors already come packaged with a copy of OpenOffice.
10. Ah, did I forget the flash plugin download the browser will make you do to watch anything on youtube?
Please add a comment if you feel there is something I missed.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Twitter Experience
Finally getting around to write about my Twitter experience!
But why did I turn to twitter ITFP(in the first place, duh!)?
I was getting sloppy with blogging inspite of the heck of an audience that I get everyday ;) And facebook I found to be heavyweight. Heavyweight? I don't know where to start but here are my grouses with facebook in no particular order:
In comes Twitter with a lot of buzz attached to it. And I think what the heck lemme give it a try.
At first Twitter comes through as utterly unfriendly. It's, like, saying I am the one who's popular you will have to f*$king search and know more about me, how to use it, etc. It's lack of newbie help is just too stand-offish. It must be something wrong with me to not try and get to know it better and give up on it, is its message.But having stuck to it I find it better than the other alternatives in the following ways:
But why did I turn to twitter ITFP(in the first place, duh!)?
I was getting sloppy with blogging inspite of the heck of an audience that I get everyday ;) And facebook I found to be heavyweight. Heavyweight? I don't know where to start but here are my grouses with facebook in no particular order:
- It takes a heck of a long time to open.
- Finally, it's a bunch of people updating some statuses and people commenting on it.
- There are some nasty people putting nasty comments viewable to whoever is your friend which you cannot delete!
- No quick way to see what people are upto. Like, with the help of some clients.
- I know you can write about yourself only as much you like others to know. But facebook is just intrusive in it's format. If you say tyoo little about yourself you are a voyeur and if you tell too much about yourself you have privacy issues. There is no winning.
In comes Twitter with a lot of buzz attached to it. And I think what the heck lemme give it a try.
At first Twitter comes through as utterly unfriendly. It's, like, saying I am the one who's popular you will have to f*$king search and know more about me, how to use it, etc. It's lack of newbie help is just too stand-offish. It must be something wrong with me to not try and get to know it better and give up on it, is its message.But having stuck to it I find it better than the other alternatives in the following ways:
- It is lightweight. No lengthy bio-data to fill-up. Heck it's based on the max SMS length of 140 chars so it's gotta be pithy.
- It's based on a very simple format. 1. Broadcast a msg to your followers. 2. Your followers can reply just to you. 3. World can see your broadcasts but cannot send msg to you. 4. You can direct message one follower for privacy's sake too. 5. The best part nobody gets to see what others are writing to you.
- There are n-number of clients for it. Also, plugins with IM clients.
- I have a few people I no longer IMed much, on my follower's list now and we catch up quite often. This is the most important reason why you need twitter. Because IM is history and this is the most unobtrusive way to catch up with people who you used to IM before.
- The other appeal of twitter is the Mobile way to update your followers while on the move. Which I haven't tried but it's there. Phew! what if I get stuck on an island with only SMS & MMS working then I can update my followers with the sexy scenes of the exotic island that they are missing :) Or heck, a quick twitpic update of the dripping gorgeous air-hostess right from the esconce of your seat :) The possibilities are mind-numbing.
- Be careful about what you broadcast as it is open to public viewing.
- Be careful about what you reply to followers with @username too. Though it is going only to specific person it is still viewable in your public timeline.
- The only way you can be sure of privacy is when you direct message someone.
- Do not reply to someone in a broadcast way as it clutters the timeline of all your followers.
- Also do not post helluva lot of broadcasts in a day. Again the same problem. I have personally unsubscribed people who did that.
- You don't have to think much before unsubscribing anyone. It's least unobtrusive. I keep getting random followers and I even don't come to know when they've unfollowed me. Also, you are not obliged to follow someone just because they are following you.
- The best way to use twitter is with a client. It makes replying, keeping to 140 chars limit and shortening lengthy urls a cakewalk. I use TweetDeck. Also, it instantly updates me with an alert of any update I got from someone I follow.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Damn funny alien joke
Well sonny, let me tell you bout the time the wife and I met some aliens. They landed on our farm one night and introduced themselves. Nice people. We got to talkin' and of course the conversation turned to sex. Now, the wife and I are open minded, so we thought, you know, in the name of science and interspecies understanding, we should give it a try. So the lady alien and I go off the the saucer while the male alien takes my wife to the bedroom.
Next morning, the wife and I talk about it. She says the alien had such a tiny penis, she started to laugh. Well, he says they aren't built like us. If she wants it thicker, just pull on his left ear. If she wants it longer, just pull on his right ear. So she gets it set up the way she likes and they have a great time.
"How was it for you?" she asks.
I say, "Pretty good, but that alien damn near pulled my ears off!"
Friday, April 3, 2009
Quite an interesting conundrum, this one
What must happen here in this story: http://chattahbox.com/curiosity/2009/04/02/sterile-man-pays-neighbor-to-get-wife-pregnant-and-then-things-get-weird/
While it seemed like a male fantasy coming true for Maus he has to now contend with twists like he is sterile, his wive's been cheating on him and he might have to return the $2500 that he took for his favors. I wonder which one of those twists is giving him a sleepless night.
On the other hand, Maus' wife got more in bargain than her husband indulging in IT with another woman, though with her knowledge. She had to go through the trauma of telling her husband that she's been an infidel. All this for what $2500?
Maus, though he did provide a service in exchange for compensation. But, does the fee, once paid, not entitle the buyer to some assurance Of reliability? Hmm? Huh? Ahh. These are not easy questions to answer. Not for any man.
While it seemed like a male fantasy coming true for Maus he has to now contend with twists like he is sterile, his wive's been cheating on him and he might have to return the $2500 that he took for his favors. I wonder which one of those twists is giving him a sleepless night.
On the other hand, Maus' wife got more in bargain than her husband indulging in IT with another woman, though with her knowledge. She had to go through the trauma of telling her husband that she's been an infidel. All this for what $2500?
Maus, though he did provide a service in exchange for compensation. But, does the fee, once paid, not entitle the buyer to some assurance Of reliability? Hmm? Huh? Ahh. These are not easy questions to answer. Not for any man.
Here's wishing Capt.Gopinath a delayed/cancelled election
Capt.Gopinath, the low-cost air-travel pioneer in India has enlisted himself for election '09 to get elected as an MP. He had founded Air Deccan which started the era of low-cost flying in India. And with it's demise so did the bubble of low-cost flying too burst. Along with low-cost flying Air Deccan also was known for really shabby customer treatment. Almost 90% of it's flight would take-off with atleast 2 hours of delay. If the requisite number of seats on a flight were not filled, Air Deccan would cancel such flights without batting an eyelid, too. Air Deccan flights were reminiscent of the buses on our Indian roads, plied by the private operator, that would not start until they had filled up. One could see such buses on our roads where the driver has started the bus and is stepping on the gas for people to think that it is about to leave but the truth is that these buses wouldn't leave without all of it's seats getting filled. Air Deccan reminded one of this scene.
Let me take this opportunity to be a good samaritan inspite of being one of his disgruntled passengers and, duely, "not" wish him any of the following on his maiden political venture: That he gets elected as an MP and:
1. His first flight to Delhi is delayed by atleast 4 hours.
2. His government alloted home is cancelled when he arrives there with his lock, stock and barrels.
3. He enters into a post-poll alliance with a party that ditches him midway.
4. He is asked to pay extra for even peanuts inside the parliament building.
People, would you want to add anything more to this? :)
Let me take this opportunity to be a good samaritan inspite of being one of his disgruntled passengers and, duely, "not" wish him any of the following on his maiden political venture: That he gets elected as an MP and:
1. His first flight to Delhi is delayed by atleast 4 hours.
2. His government alloted home is cancelled when he arrives there with his lock, stock and barrels.
3. He enters into a post-poll alliance with a party that ditches him midway.
4. He is asked to pay extra for even peanuts inside the parliament building.
People, would you want to add anything more to this? :)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
"Pakistan - Riding a Tiger"
‘Pakistan is only taking half measures in the fight against terrorism. Pakistan is paying the price for not heeding our advice,’ Mr Chidambaram(PC, our Home Minister) said. ‘Unless you dismantle terror, one day or the other you'll be hurt,’ he told Pakistan. ‘We have put enormous pressure on Pakistan, but the response is in Pakistan's hands... They have not gone the whole distance to dismantle terror infrastructure. We advised them that it is not enough if they nab one or two people whom they suspect to be the masterminds.’
Kudos to our Home Minister, I am glad we are, finally, talking how we should have been talking all the time. May I add my own aphorism on the subject, "Jo doosron ke liye gaddah khodta hai wohi usme girata hain(Those who dig a grave for others end up falling in it themselves.)". This is after a longtime that I find pride in our Home Minister and Foriegn minister. On the other hand I had expected a lot more from Zardari, a person who lost his wife to Terrorism. He is the living proof that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Banning his opponent from contesting elections, treating LeT, JeM, Taliban, etc with kid gloves are not the ways expected of a person who is a victim of terrorism. Under his leadership Pakistan is leading a way of speak and counter-speak.
That said, my sympathies with the police personnel who lost their lives in the lahore attack.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Arguments lately
Lately, I've been embroiled in, sometimes heated, arguments, with one person in particular, on various subjects. The three subjects of arguments are as follows:
1. Whether Renuka Chaudhary's war cry "Pub-Bharo" was in good taste or not. I was obviously in favor of it :) But I have solid reasons, mind you.
2. Whether wizard based technologies should be the way forward. I am more in favor of "control" in my tech stuff so A-to-Z wizard based stuff is not for me. I need the element of control that ties ends together or I don't feel in control. And it is the case, if you want to do something out of the way of the wizard technologies, you end up scratching your heads.
3. Whether Sachin Tendulkar is god. I admit that I went through a phase where I used to think that India had no chance of winning when his wicket fell. But I am well past that phase. In fact, though I like the cricket the new team plays under Dhoni, I am no longer a fan of cricket! I fail to understand how a person who was so very inconsistent on the field be termed the God of Cricket! When I was young and impressionable there is no dearth of times when he has let me down by giving his wicket away.
1. Whether Renuka Chaudhary's war cry "Pub-Bharo" was in good taste or not. I was obviously in favor of it :) But I have solid reasons, mind you.
2. Whether wizard based technologies should be the way forward. I am more in favor of "control" in my tech stuff so A-to-Z wizard based stuff is not for me. I need the element of control that ties ends together or I don't feel in control. And it is the case, if you want to do something out of the way of the wizard technologies, you end up scratching your heads.
3. Whether Sachin Tendulkar is god. I admit that I went through a phase where I used to think that India had no chance of winning when his wicket fell. But I am well past that phase. In fact, though I like the cricket the new team plays under Dhoni, I am no longer a fan of cricket! I fail to understand how a person who was so very inconsistent on the field be termed the God of Cricket! When I was young and impressionable there is no dearth of times when he has let me down by giving his wicket away.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Believe it or not: This chart works!
Just discovered this chart according to chinese lunar calendar which predicts the gender of your baby pretty accurately. Please note that this is posted here not as a gender selector for "ishq par waqt ta zor kab raha hai....ha...ha...ha"
http://www.thelaboroflove.com/chart/cal.html
I have checked this chart for my boys and myself too and it accurately predicted my sex..i mean gender :)
http://www.thelaboroflove.com/chart/cal.html
I have checked this chart for my boys and myself too and it accurately predicted my sex..i mean gender :)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Red Indian Vs. White man
Red Indian Chief 'Two Eagles' was asked by a white government official,
'You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his
technological advances. You've seen his progress, and the damage he's
done.'
The Chief nodded in agreement.
The official continued, 'Considering all these events, in your opinion,
where did the white man go wrong?'
The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then
calmly replied.
'When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty
buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work, Medicine man
free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex.'
Then the chief leaned back and smiled. 'Only white man dumb enough to think
he could improve a system like that.'
'You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his
technological advances. You've seen his progress, and the damage he's
done.'
The Chief nodded in agreement.
The official continued, 'Considering all these events, in your opinion,
where did the white man go wrong?'
The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then
calmly replied.
'When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty
buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work, Medicine man
free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex.'
Then the chief leaned back and smiled. 'Only white man dumb enough to think
he could improve a system like that.'
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Ashok Chakra awards
Yesterday, I was watching our Republic Day proceedings on the TV and when it was the turn of our President to give away the Ashok Chakra awards, the highest recognition to our nation's heroes during peacetime, a few thoughts struck me:
1. All the awards were being accepted by the widows of the heroes.
2. Why is it being given to the 3 police-men who got ambushed and killed? How come they are placed on the same pedestal as those who valiantly fought the enemies before laying down their lives?
3. If the 3 policemen who were ambushed to death deserved the award, why don't all the policemen who lost their lives in the 26/11 attacks too deserve the awards? Were the lives of the policemen of lower grade not worth the lives of these policemen?
4. Was it because these 3 men were in media's glare and were painted as heroes by the media that they ended up with the awards?
I think that our government has bungled badly in this case. It still can make amends by granting the awards to the rest of the policemen who laid down their lives in the attack.
1. All the awards were being accepted by the widows of the heroes.
2. Why is it being given to the 3 police-men who got ambushed and killed? How come they are placed on the same pedestal as those who valiantly fought the enemies before laying down their lives?
3. If the 3 policemen who were ambushed to death deserved the award, why don't all the policemen who lost their lives in the 26/11 attacks too deserve the awards? Were the lives of the policemen of lower grade not worth the lives of these policemen?
4. Was it because these 3 men were in media's glare and were painted as heroes by the media that they ended up with the awards?
I think that our government has bungled badly in this case. It still can make amends by granting the awards to the rest of the policemen who laid down their lives in the attack.
Moral policing, a growing menace
Q: What's the difference between Karnataka and Maharashtra?
A: They have a spanking new set of CM and deputy-CM.
And I think it's time we had a new one. Rest, I see only similarities between KN and MH. They have regionalism against north-indians. Here, in karnataka there is regionalism against tamils and north-indians, for now. They have moral-policing where they go around chasing paki nationals back home or changing sweet shop names. Here we have moral-policing goons chasing and molesting girls who visit pubs.
When terrorists struck Mumbai on 26/11 there was a huge hue and cry that we are so angry with our government, our neighbors, etc. And we did do something about it. We held vigils and vented our anger. And our anger was seen and was acted upon.
I appreciated media then and I appreciate media now for taking up the cause for the girls in Mangalore who got molested by moral-police. But why must it always be the media who tries to bring justice by their own means. Why don't we take out vigils to show our strenght and displeasure at all such acts? I am sure all those who came out for vigil after mumbai attacks would be of the opinion that this act must be condemned and protested against. But what makes them come out for one issue and not the other? Well, I guess somebody needs to mobilize them out of their houses. It would be a nice idea to have a portal where people can register to be told when a peaceful protest is being planned. Then they can come to that location with their posters and markers and what not. Maybe, the media can also be part of the list of members who will be tuned into the happenings of that site. Wonder what people think of this idea!
A: They have a spanking new set of CM and deputy-CM.
And I think it's time we had a new one. Rest, I see only similarities between KN and MH. They have regionalism against north-indians. Here, in karnataka there is regionalism against tamils and north-indians, for now. They have moral-policing where they go around chasing paki nationals back home or changing sweet shop names. Here we have moral-policing goons chasing and molesting girls who visit pubs.
When terrorists struck Mumbai on 26/11 there was a huge hue and cry that we are so angry with our government, our neighbors, etc. And we did do something about it. We held vigils and vented our anger. And our anger was seen and was acted upon.
I appreciated media then and I appreciate media now for taking up the cause for the girls in Mangalore who got molested by moral-police. But why must it always be the media who tries to bring justice by their own means. Why don't we take out vigils to show our strenght and displeasure at all such acts? I am sure all those who came out for vigil after mumbai attacks would be of the opinion that this act must be condemned and protested against. But what makes them come out for one issue and not the other? Well, I guess somebody needs to mobilize them out of their houses. It would be a nice idea to have a portal where people can register to be told when a peaceful protest is being planned. Then they can come to that location with their posters and markers and what not. Maybe, the media can also be part of the list of members who will be tuned into the happenings of that site. Wonder what people think of this idea!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
New Year Resolutions. For India..
It is 1st of Jan. That time of the year when you make resolutions for the new year. I have never made resolutions because I always thought that they were made to be broken. But this year I feel like making some hard resolutions. I am in the process of making a few of them for myself. But this post is about resolutions, according to me, that must be the resolutions of India for the new year. The following are the resolutions India is making for itself:
Terrorism: I have had enough of it. This time I will not let up the pressure on Pakistan until it comes out of it's self-denial mode. I will not let up the pressure until Pakistan takes concrete steps to curbing the menace, until pakistan hands over the responsible terrorists to India. I will not let Politicians spoil my resolve, this time. I will secure my borders in such a way that outsiders shudder at the thought of illegally crossing over into our border. I will strengthen my law and order in such a way that vote-bank politics doesn't affect the resolve with which I deal with terrorists in my custody.
Clean Governance: 2009 is the year of the lok sabha elections. I will rout corrupt government servents with full-resolve. There are corrupt leaders and there are publicly corrupt leaders like Mayawati. I will expose and suspend all corrupt leaders. I will not let the government leaders who have the tax-payer's money at their disposal to spend it on wasteful expenditures like Statues, Monuments, providing Z-security levels to all and sundry leaders and sports people, foriegn tours of large government contingents with no agendas. I will ensure that the tax-payer's money is used for the basic necessities of all people like good roads, water, electricities, affordable medical attention and food.
Young and Literate Leaders: I can't help but notice that the dismal state of affairs that my countrymen are facing everyday is because I am being ruled by leaders who should have retired a good few decades back and who are mostly illiterate. Many have a criminal record too. I will take the opportunity that the lok sabha elections of this year is offerring to cleanup my act and bring in a fresh shot of blood in the way of young, dynamic, educated and criminal-free leaders to lead the way to new me.
Digital India: I have already done a start in many of my government offices in the direction of digitization, with good results. Like, income-tax returns, PAN card issuance, Passport issuance, electricity & telephone bill payments, etc. This has resulted in lesser people and government employees contact resulting in lessening of instances of corruption. This year I will strive to digitize more areas starting with the highly corrupt offices like RTO and Land Registrar offices.
Transport: It is, by now, eminently clear to all people that providing an efficient transport is instrumental in a robust economy. Be it the daily commute of my people to their work-places or the their long-distance travels or the transport of goods all over the country, there is nothing more than a good transport that brings a smile to the traveller. I will strive to provide the best transport experience to my countrymen, be it through good and wide roads or efficient railway system or affordable air-travel. Why must my people cancel their travel plans due to lack of travel options? Why must my people suffer hours of road travel on my pollution-filled roads to get to their work-place when the same distances take no time in other countries? Why must there be so much pollution on my roads? I will strive to address all these questions in this new year.
Consumer Power: With the increased properity my people have increased their consumption of goods. And as an ugly by-product, everyday, thousands of my people are taken for a ride by private(we've already talked about corruption in public business) businesses small, medium and large ones. Airlines cancel flights and don't refund the money that rightfully belongs to the passenger. My people are made to purchase goods on false promises that are not kept. My people put all their life-savings in deals which, later, prove fraudulent. One way or the other all of my people have experienced fraud in big or small way. This year I will strive to strengthen the power in the hands of the consumers. This, I will do by delivering swift justice to consumer complaints and by taking the consumer courts to the doorstep of the consumer and by making it very easy to file such complaints and, finally, by taking severe action on the erring businesses. I intend to strengthen my consumer protection laws to such extent that any business should shudder at the thought of cheating my people.
There are many areas in my body which need improvements. But let me focus on a few and get them right. I think that if the above areas are dealt with rightly it will provide a lot of succour to my people.
Terrorism: I have had enough of it. This time I will not let up the pressure on Pakistan until it comes out of it's self-denial mode. I will not let up the pressure until Pakistan takes concrete steps to curbing the menace, until pakistan hands over the responsible terrorists to India. I will not let Politicians spoil my resolve, this time. I will secure my borders in such a way that outsiders shudder at the thought of illegally crossing over into our border. I will strengthen my law and order in such a way that vote-bank politics doesn't affect the resolve with which I deal with terrorists in my custody.
Clean Governance: 2009 is the year of the lok sabha elections. I will rout corrupt government servents with full-resolve. There are corrupt leaders and there are publicly corrupt leaders like Mayawati. I will expose and suspend all corrupt leaders. I will not let the government leaders who have the tax-payer's money at their disposal to spend it on wasteful expenditures like Statues, Monuments, providing Z-security levels to all and sundry leaders and sports people, foriegn tours of large government contingents with no agendas. I will ensure that the tax-payer's money is used for the basic necessities of all people like good roads, water, electricities, affordable medical attention and food.
Young and Literate Leaders: I can't help but notice that the dismal state of affairs that my countrymen are facing everyday is because I am being ruled by leaders who should have retired a good few decades back and who are mostly illiterate. Many have a criminal record too. I will take the opportunity that the lok sabha elections of this year is offerring to cleanup my act and bring in a fresh shot of blood in the way of young, dynamic, educated and criminal-free leaders to lead the way to new me.
Digital India: I have already done a start in many of my government offices in the direction of digitization, with good results. Like, income-tax returns, PAN card issuance, Passport issuance, electricity & telephone bill payments, etc. This has resulted in lesser people and government employees contact resulting in lessening of instances of corruption. This year I will strive to digitize more areas starting with the highly corrupt offices like RTO and Land Registrar offices.
Transport: It is, by now, eminently clear to all people that providing an efficient transport is instrumental in a robust economy. Be it the daily commute of my people to their work-places or the their long-distance travels or the transport of goods all over the country, there is nothing more than a good transport that brings a smile to the traveller. I will strive to provide the best transport experience to my countrymen, be it through good and wide roads or efficient railway system or affordable air-travel. Why must my people cancel their travel plans due to lack of travel options? Why must my people suffer hours of road travel on my pollution-filled roads to get to their work-place when the same distances take no time in other countries? Why must there be so much pollution on my roads? I will strive to address all these questions in this new year.
Consumer Power: With the increased properity my people have increased their consumption of goods. And as an ugly by-product, everyday, thousands of my people are taken for a ride by private(we've already talked about corruption in public business) businesses small, medium and large ones. Airlines cancel flights and don't refund the money that rightfully belongs to the passenger. My people are made to purchase goods on false promises that are not kept. My people put all their life-savings in deals which, later, prove fraudulent. One way or the other all of my people have experienced fraud in big or small way. This year I will strive to strengthen the power in the hands of the consumers. This, I will do by delivering swift justice to consumer complaints and by taking the consumer courts to the doorstep of the consumer and by making it very easy to file such complaints and, finally, by taking severe action on the erring businesses. I intend to strengthen my consumer protection laws to such extent that any business should shudder at the thought of cheating my people.
There are many areas in my body which need improvements. But let me focus on a few and get them right. I think that if the above areas are dealt with rightly it will provide a lot of succour to my people.
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