How long will we keep fighting?

November 1995

Post-lunch classes were always a drag, so I wasn’t listening to my social studies teacher that afternoon when she spoke about Kashmir issue. Instead, I was looking at the Indian map on the same page of my textbook. I imagined it without Kashmir; I even covered the Kashmir part with my still-growing palm. The image looked weird, like a headless body, I thought with a silly grin.

Was that my own imagining? Or something that was indirectly inculcated into me by my teacher, who just taught us what the book said and didn’t have an opinion of her own? Or from the textbook itself, and from my previous years’ textbooks that told me that Kashmir was a vital part of India that Pakistan tried to steal?

A 9-year-old’s world is simple: You relate to things with your preconceived roles of villain, hero and the helpless soul that needs saving. To me, there was no doubt that India “the hero” would save Kashmir from Pakistan “the villain.” I believed that Kashmir the “head” was an original and essential part of the Indian body, as I was taught. But now as I hear all this controversy about whether Kashmir is an integral part of India, and as I use the “Google god” to learn more, I realised that I was taught a bunch of lies. My conception of the pretty state of Kashmir with the breathtaking mountains and the beautiful valleys was all based on lies.

Avial a few weeks before Onam

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Yes, that's what I had on independence eve night at Bangalore, a good mix of Avial. No, we are not referring to the dish here but the Mallu rock band Avial. My 1^st real rock show, so nothing much to compare it to. But yes it was fun for me, and inspired the very malnourished Malayalam singer in me to sing along.

The crowd was very much an Avial crowd in-spite of the organisers move of advertising the show with Parikrama as the main heroes.

Tony, the main singer of Avial very much reminded me of The Devil, with his sexy bald hair, pixie pointed ears, pale skin, sharp eyes, and just fit body. These not so mallu looks, along with his paccha (raw) Malayalam combined his trademark the rebel mallu attire consisting of a school boy white shirt and a black lungi was what the crowd out there loved most about him.

The “Tony, Tony” chants went on throughout the performance, and he dint disappoint his fans one bit. In between the hit numbers he had his own corny malayalam lines like “are we roking, and rolingg makalle?” to keep the crowd entertained.

Thanks to unequal growth hormones between the sexes I was right behind a bunch of tall guys who just kept jumping all the time, making my view of the concert much more difficult. The crowd was very sane for a rock concert, but off course there was the mood of alcohol, mixed with the fragrance of dope every 5 mins a new guy passed by.

The band is a ‘Rang De Basanthi’(with full reference to the movie) type band. In the sense it is one that has the power to make even the ‘Fraud mallu’ sit back, listen, feel proud to be a Malayali, and understand a few issues/stories related with the place he/she comes from.

The popularity of the band’s music is not restricted to just to Kerala, but crosses even the country’s borders. Many compare it to the popularity of the band to that of the German rock band ‘Rammstein’, with the similarity that both sing in strange languages, but the music is as good as ever.

Also called ‘Alternate Malayalam rock’ genre, the band is one that made me tone my tongue to twist it a bit further to sing their Malayalam lyrics. When someone makes you try hard to do something you never bothered to then that is what I call Influential. No doubt Avial is one such band in the history of Malayalam music.

Sania , Shoaib, aur hum

Disclaimer : This post is old news, and I should have posted it 2 months back. Let me apologize for my procrastination.

Let me quote one of the most sought after new age Indian authors of the current generation...
Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy.
They get married.
In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy.
Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl.
Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.
And now let me add to this a little more for the coveted Sania mirza-Shoiab Malik love story.
The Girl’s country has to love boy. Boy’s country has to love girl.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.

Sania Mirza has always been a media favourite in India. She has made headlines for reasons in and beyond her control, be it because the Islam extremists decided to voice out loud that they thought her skirt hemline was too short for a modest Muslim girl, or her link up with a special bollywood star who was famous for being dumped at that time. But now she is in news for a reason everyone loves to hear, for love, for marriage, for a controversial marriage.
The perfect Indian marriage is one with no controversy, but the exciting and memorable one is one which has maximum controversy as it can take.
In most of the controversial Indian marriage the controversy, confusion, rejection, etc comes from within the family. The parents don’t approve of the guy/girls caste, the religions don’t agree with each other, parents choose totally poles apart partners for their kids etc, etc.
Sania has been spared that part of the great Indian dramatic wedding, but instead her anti-cupid forces are external, external from immediate family. There are two main enemies to this marriage. 1st is the ‘Other girl’ from Hyderabad, who is taken care of for now (hopefully). Let’s not talk about that part, because as far as we know that part has been taken care of and that girl will never interfere with the new brides life (or so we hope).
I would like to talk about the second enemy here, that is the ‘Other’ people who aren’t happy with the marriage. The reason they don’t agree with the marriage is the very famous ‘they aren’t a perfect match’ and this has nothing to do with personal interests, character or favourite ice screams, but more to do with nationalities, countries and borders.
Coming from a family where a few ‘not so perfect in the others eye marriages’ have taken place, i have seen how difficult the bride and the groom struggle to get the families consent, forget the society consent. Here we are talking about a whole country, a few people in the country feel that Sania’s matrimony is a national issue, and to asking Sania to get the blessings of every uncle ansd aunty in the country is ‘mission-impossible.
On a TV talk show almost 2 weeks before the marriage happened I had seen Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik voice his opinion that he thought Sania Mirza choice of a Pakistani was an insult to all Indian Muslim boys. I really don’t know how that is relevant here, was it a competition here? In Muthalik’s view is every single adult Indian Muslim boy ranging from the tea-shop boy to the businessman who has just flown in from Switzerland after making a billion dollar deal supposed to feel like a failure in Sania’s eyes?
So finally they married after a lot of hue and cry. But is the drama over? I fail to think so. Lets wait for the next major tennis tournament to come, and hear if Sania wants to play for India. Then many self appointed tennis experts will come out to coach Sania on patriotism and betrayal.

More than a ball game

A month Pune and Kochi were dancing. Why? Because they were getting their own IPL team, but today slogans of ‘Ban IPL’ are being screamed all over.

A month back IPL news meant ‘KKR thrashed again’ or ‘Sachin proves he is god in all forms of the game’ or ‘Yuvraj angry over captaincy issue’, but today it means ‘Was Shashi Tharoor really playing a foul game or is he another victim of controversy’ or ‘Modi not going down without a fight.’

So ultimately who is the joke on? Is it on Sunanda who was forced to give up her share in the Kochi team? Is it on the newly ex-president of the IPL Mr.Lalit Modi ? Is it on the million cricket fans who religiously followed every match, only to realize that it was all fixed in the 1^st place.

Tharoor’s little secret game has now become a major issue involving many big names in the underworld, and questioning the credibility of many politicians and the government. It all started with Modi’s casual tweet about Tharoor wanting to be all hush-hush about his girlfriend Sunanda holding free equity in the Kochi team, and that ironically has got Modi himself under the axe.

When Tharoor who claimed to be ‘only a mentor’ to the Kochi team found himself at the receiving end of the IPL and political blows, with no ‘team’ to support his case, he bailed himself out by resigning as foreign minister, with grace. His resignation speech was classy to say the least, and only a fool would think that was his vote of thanks to political life. Lets all hope that will rise from the dead.

Lalit Modi was the next victim of the IPL hurricane, but for all we know of him, he wasn’t one to give in so easily, the IPL was his brain child, his baby. For the past 3 years Lalit Modi has taken centre stage of the IPL, he hasn’t had to share the limelight either, because the rest of the world didn’t care for the supporting actors. Modi took the all the right and wrong decisions associated with the IPL unilaterally, and always thought it a better idea to tweet about it as soon as he decided.

But one who has lived by the axe must die by the axe, and ultimately at the end of IPL-3 Modi has been reduced to just another twitter fanatic. Most of the in-house people in the BCCI who Modi trusted he could depend upon has let him down. But then Modi’s best friend Sharad Powar had to play Brutus here, lest he dirties his hands and poses a threat to his own position as the next ICC president.

Modi’s top crime is that he was involved in betting and match-fixing allegations. The IT department has proof for that, but investigations have come out with more surprises, putting the whole IPL brand name into shame. Names were dragged in, denials were in plenty, and the media saw to it that no one was spared.

Earlier Preity Zinta had a lot of explaining to do over the alleged ‘proxy ownership’ of the Punjab kings XI. Now its Shilpa sheety’s turn to save Rajasthan royals face, and she has opted to do that by the language IPL best understands by now, tweeting.

The tax department and the government are determined to get to the bottom of the IPL mysteries. This has become bigger than a national issue, and the government knows that if they do messy job here the ICC will step in along with the international paparazzi and that could turn really ugly.

Except for the bookies no one likes the word match fixing, irrespective of the result of the matches. I remember the match fixing controversy during South Africa’s tour of India 2001. Too many hearts were broken when the secret was out, including mine. So if any hint of match fixing is whispered we want to know the truth.

I was watching Preity Zinta’s interview with Barkha in which Priety stated that, “everybody is talking about the IPL which is great in a way but I wish they would focus on the game, I wish they would focus on the sport which everybody's completely ignored.”

Yes Preity we wish for the same, we would also rather talk about and watch the game, than the dramatic IPL circus show. But we would also like to be assured that whatever happens on the field is the result of those 22 guys who toil is out in the field—The same guys who we idolize, the same guys for who we prayed, and not the result of a raw deal made between a bunch of high profile businessmen in the luxury of a 5-star hotel room. If the latter is found to be true then we definitely won’t be laughing, as the joke would undoubtedly be on us the fans.

Happy (Ignore)Valentines day

When does one inherit the right to moral police? Where do we draw that line?

The law says an individual past the age of 18 is free to live at one’s own will. But then reality is an ass****

I am not new to moral policing, in fact most of us aren’t. We spend most our lives following other individual’s ethics and principles.

I did my undergraduate studies in a college about which people talked more for its dictatorial rules than the quality of education. A written order to ‘keep an arms distance from the opposite sex’, and a rule which said that you could not use the loo after a certain time were some of the outrageous rules there. Being a religious institution free spiritual thought and practises were shunned upon.

In time I learnt to ignore the tantrums they made for every little rebel act, and learnt of ways to live my own life in spite of all the drama around. Then again there were a few who said that when one runs one’s own business (the business of selling education) then the right to design a rule system came by default.

But what does one do when a group of eccentric, irrational morons decide to discipline the country???

Well it’s Valentines day, the day of love, making out, heart shaped balloons, hand in hand couples, moonlit dinners, discovering the romantic in you. But none of that should happen in this country, not on this day.

Why?

Because some ‘speacial someones’ do not like it, and they feel the very idea of a valentine’s day is going over the top. So I say well, if so don’t celebrate it, don’t acknowledge it, and don’t wear red, wear black or rather don’t follow any dress code at all.

But no, they have a better plan of making things work their way, they spit on women in pubs, forcefully marry any guy and girl seen walking together on that day, it doesn’t even matter if they are siblings, beat up the guy in front of the girl. So even if you are a married couple who wants to celebrate Valentine’s Day, you better do that at home.

The irony is that Valentine’s Day is supposed to be all about love and happiness, whereas what’s happening here right now is bloodshed and fear.

A few days back an anti-Valentino activist was giving one of his ‘we are watching you, don’t try any funny stunt on D day’ lectures, when one young man came up and rubbed some ink on his face. Now in a way it’s funny, but I wonder if that was supposed to be a taste of one’s own medicine thing , like in ‘you don’t like the idea of teenagers dating, so you get them married, likewise we don’t like listening to your crap talk so we decide to decorate your face’.

One thing led t another and in the end of the day plenty of buses were burned, people murdered, and the legal police are all over the place trying to restore some peace. I guess St. Valentine never in his wildest dreams thought he would be the excuse for so much violence.

So can keep on lying to ourselves tagging this as moral policing? Will we ever see an end to this re named hitlerism?

I don’t know.

So on this day I wish you all not a happy or romantic valentine’s day, but a peaceful and uneventful one.

India's future embracing Section 377

A scene from a TV show I saw a few months back

Channel: VH1

Characters: Chris Adams(American Idol 2009 ), Adam Lambert (runners up) and the VH1 show anchor.

Location: Studio in the US of A

Topic of discussion : The life of the idols beyond the TV show

Somewhere along the conversation a specific part catches my attention

Anchor to Adam : Is it true you have a crush on Chris ?

Adam(puts his arm around chris’s shoulder) : Yes, He is a handsome man..

Chris (just gives one of his heartbreaking cute smiles)

Camera man adds a fake twinkle in Chris white teeth and conversation goes on to discuss how Adam was glad he made his sexual preference clear while the show was still on air. The show ends and is a success for the channel, viewer level is high, the singers shake hands and life goes on for all….

Now picture the same scene happening in India.
Will such a scene get away with no ‘aftermath’?

Will such a scene get away without the church (and the church I refer to is not restricted to any religion) quoting quotations from the holiest books on how hell is reserved for ‘un-natural’ sex doers?

Will such a scene get away without the news channels flooding their ‘breaking news’ with ‘Gay Idol ‘ strewn all over them?

Personally I’ll have to say that maybe we will reach that stage at some point, but not in the near future.

Yes hail the country for rewriting Section 377 and keeping the Homosexual hope of an equal life alive. I will not exaggerate on the change cause I know that even though the ‘outcast’ criminal tag is off legally, I know life will not be all smooth sailing for them.

Every age or every generation comes with their own controversy, and for this generation homosexuality is a highlight. Not that I say that it din’t exist way before the Indus valley civilization days, but never has it been this much of a public song nor has the Indian society been challenged to accept it to the level of normalcy as it is today.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, are we totally comfortable with the same-sex concept?

Well if I was to answer that question I’ll say ‘Yes’, but with my own clause, and that would be that I’m totally cool with it as long as it doesn’t directly effect me. Now this directly effecting me could range from a lesbian making an indecent pass at me or my son coming up to me and proclaiming that he wanted to marry ‘Adam’. Now though most ‘unorthodox’ people wouldn’t admit this is where they all stand .

Off late suddenly every tom, Dick and Harriet is screaming ‘yay Section 377’ or ‘yuck Section 377’. With the recent change to that little law rule we are all going to see one thing for sure, and that is more and more people coming out of the closet, and the society handles it is one thing I’d like to see.

Homosexuality is going to be the new ‘generation gap marriage issue’. Now when the present generation accepts inter-caste, inter-religion, inter-country marriages, the gay and lesbian ones are going to be the unexpected challenge for them. How the church and temples with deal with this I don’t know, but they better gear themselves with more than just quotes, preachers and threats.

The Indian society will definitely have to see a lot of tears, hear a lot of curses, suffer a lot of heartbreaks, ignore a lot of ‘traditions’ , witness a lot of suicides over the gay issue. But change is inevitable and I guess someday all the aunties and uncles around will have to accept this new reality with a straight face. Maybe for all you know we could have new education and job reservations for the LGBT community and their kids.

The Indian mind will evolve for sure. The 1st time I heard of the very homo concept(I was barely 10) it seemed pretty weird to me, but with time the ignorance was removed and now though I am not one to vouch for the community, I’m one to say ‘You don’t know what they feel, so please shut and stop cursing them’. Today if my best friend suddenly realized she wasn’t straight or my colleague revealed he was gay I would not wince or call them queer.

So I hope and pray that so will the Indian society embraces homosexual relationships.

As for me if one day my son does proclaim that he want s to marry Adam and I loss the controversy battle all I can say is ‘I was expecting an Eve but I’ll try not to make a fuss about Adam’ ,and them keep praying everyday that my daughter does not bring home the ‘Eve’.

PS: The references are purely imaginary, I have no son or daughter now and my best friend is very very straight.

When Mathematical Equations Equalled to Falling In and out of love

Everybody falls in love with someone or the other at some point in their life. Back in school I had no time for love, as there were too many subjects to be dealt with.

In Science, Chemistry always remained a mystery to me. Somehow I could pick up Physics pretty fast, but Biology always gave me a headache.When it came to languages, English was a cakewalk, thanks to the 'Anglo-Indian' blood, along with the fact that I only spoke English at home. This blessing turned a curse when it came to the Indian languages I had to learn at school, as I never watched Hindi movies or listened to Malayalam songs. So even with private tutors to help me out these languages freaked me with their gendered inanimate objects and all.

History was alright as long as we were discussing revolutions, but dates, eras and dynasties were too confusing for me. Geography and civics meant swallowing whole and vomiting, fingers-crossed, whole.

But between all this there was one subject that came naturally to me. Something that most of my classmates slogged over, but I never had to give any effort to excel in. This subject was Mathematics, lovingly called Maths. My feelings and level of compatibility with Math back then was so strong that I can confidently say MATH AND I WERE IN LOVE AT THAT TIME.

Unlike my counterparts in school, I never went for tuitions or attended extra classes in math, but I managed to do much better than my expectations. In the beginning I was impressed with myself, but soon it became a habit I got used to. Now, I didn’t have a daily time schedule for math or anything, but I presumed math wasn't possessive to demand that from me. In fact it was the subject I spent least time with.

It wasn't an obsessive affair either, as most of the time I never did my math homework and ended up copying it from the usual "punctual dudettes" minutes before my math teacher was to enter my class. This never bothered math, moreover, it wasn't like I was cheating on it by spending that "quality time" with other subjects.
But whenever I did 'indulge' in mathematical sums I can tell you that I was totally into it and mostly I never let anything else 'disturb' me (well yeah mostly, c'mon we are all human). If there was a 'problem' I couldn't solve it did bother me and I would try and analyze different 'solutions' till something worked. My teachers believed in my math potential, and they never tried to come between us.

Even in my so called crucial 10th grade, I didn’t seek extra help. I remember one time my sister caught me reading math a day before my model math exam. She was horrified. She proclaimed with all the drama she is famous for, that I was going to flunk my exam for treating math like trash. Instead I got a 96 on 100 for that exam. You see how easily we connected. I wasn't scared, I believed math wouldn't let me down, and vice- versa. For the 10th boards I missed the perfect 100 by 3 marks. 2 marks I know how I lost, but I’ve spent many a night wondering about that rogue 1 remaining mark. It just didn’t add up.

Then I went on to my post matriculation years, the 11th & 12th grade. This was when things took a turn, for the worse. Math got complicated as the months passed, but I never gave it much thought. Differentiation made no difference and integration didn’t, well, integrate. My grades went down, people told me to seek help, go for tuitions, I hated the very idea of tuitions and was allergic to it, so I never listened.

But it’s not like I didn’t try. I agree I never paid attention in class, not that I think it would've helped. In fact I did something at that time, something I’ve never done before.

Before the 'oh-so-important' 12th boards I actually sat down and tried solving all the sums from my textbook all by myself. Sort of like when lovers who realize the missing passion try and talk it out patiently. Find the lost magic and all. But that’s when I realized my love affair was a mess. We HAD problems. I didn’t have the answer and like any lover in history I would not take the blame for it.
When the results came I got a pathetic 57 in math, not that I gave a damn. I was just glad to have passed. There was no burning chemistry between us, there was no love left….

Then college. Due to unavoidable reasons I missed almost a month of the initial classes. So for the fear of being the only one left behind, I pushed myself into giving ‘'that extra effort' for all subjects in the beginning. Somewhere at that time I think I revived the chemistry between math and me. A hint of passion, like static could be sensed, but not for long. I was soon back to my old self again.

By now things were really bad. I mean I just wasn't interested anymore. Maths got complicated with every passing day. We drifted apart to say the least. Now I could blame math for the coldness. It got complicated, it changed, 'It was no more the Math I fell in love with'. But all that would only be my sorry excuse for my shortcomings. Maybe I should've (could've) tried harder, I should've paid more attention, I should’ve sought help, I should've realized change was inevitable instead of being stubborn.

Things only went downhill from then, to the limit that my last encounter with maths was in my 4th semester and I flunked in that. Now it would be good to note it was my only supplementary in those 4 wild engineering years. Yes I did clear it in the next chance, but I wish things would've ended between us on a better note.

What’s saddest is that though I was disappointed with flunking, I wasn’t affected in the least that it was Maths. I blamed maths and I cursed it for my failure. But the disappointment ended at the failure. I felt no emotion for the subject I had such a raging affair with in school. It had become me, me and more me by now.

Today even for the simplest calculation I need to use a calculator. If you ask me if we would get back together, I’ll say a definite no. We have gone separate ways to the point of no return. Maybe like a real relationship if we had sought help at the right moment things would’ve been different. Maybe extra time spent would’ve worked.

But in the end of the day there are no regrets, and as life moved on I found more interesting things to indulge in. In the end of the day I can say is maybe nothing lasts forever but it was good while it lasted. :)

Will Another Hussein rule the world?

No your not wrong the previous hussein im talkin about is Mr. Saddam hussein, and you have to agree he did manage to piss (to put it mildly) the whole world in his own creative way.

The ‘next’, present hussein I’m referring to is none other than the ‘oh so stylish’ Barrack hussein Obama. Now why do I say he shall rule the world? You have to agree that the Americans do control (to put it mildly) the world in their own way. Take the movie world for example, every sensible regional actor’s dream is to make it to Hollywood, and an Oscar nominee is like ‘wowww’. Then don’t forget how the whole world is losing sleep because of the depressing meltdown of the already recessed US economy. So I hope you got my point now.

Coming back to the topic, I just have to give it up to the junior Hussein. With a name like that and in a country like that, given the current situation I’m sure he must’ve had a tough time reaching the top. I mean in the past one decade the Americans haven’t been the best of buddies with ‘Hussein’ in their name, and moreover the whole anti- terrorism campaign which definitely has been a test for American muslims, is just one of the little adventures Obama had to pass. the opposition did their own homework to advertise the Muslim side of Obama in their own style

The resemblance of the name ‘OBAMA’ with the celebrity terrorist ‘OSAMA’ (I say celebrity cause he keeps releasing these videos of himself from time to time, I wonder if he ever had childhood dreams of making it big in showbiz) is way too ironic and could definitely be a major turn off for most American gentlemen and ladies. Yes, I agree America is the most modern of all nations, but they can also be stupidly superstitious at times.

Now if you ask me, if I was American I would go for Obama. Why? He’s kinda cool (sorry I’m not big on politics), and I see a lot of potential in him. Then I also have to admit that I’d like to see what happens when America gets a black president (note, I’m not racist), oh I can already picture the joke they are gone crack over it ,sort of like the innumerable sardar jokes we had when Manmohan took over, its mandatory, and is bound to happen when normalcy is broken. Off course, I dint like his promise of seeing to the fact that America wouldn’t outsource their work anymore, but I’ll let that pass for now.

Yes he is a popular man, and the favorite, but no I wouldn’t put my bet on him, because the Americans are an unpredictable bunch. Remember the last election, when the much hated MR Bush got a second term, that was shocking. But if Obama does loose I’ll have to blame it ton his mixed race, mixed religious history and yes to his ‘Name’.

Now if this was Pakistan (note, I am not anti-pakistan) and the tables were turned then I’m sure the candidate would opt to change his name before getting to politics. No that’s not a fiction of my imagination, but I’m speaking with reference to the conversion of the Pakistani cricketer Yousuf yohanna to Mohamed yousuf, just to fit in. but then again this is America we are taking about, the free country where Democracy was defined by adorable MR. Arbraham Lincoln as being "for the people, by the people, of the people". So everything’s cool (hopefully).

But if he does win I’m pretty sure it aint gonna be easy ride. He will have work to do, pick up the pieces left and start repair, the reconstruction can go either way, nothing is certain. But I want him to win, as I believe he can live upto his promise of delivering ‘the change that America so needs’, and yes not only America, but the rest of the world craves for a change. Besides Mccain is the same old thing, white old man who talks boring.

So I wish you luck Mr Barrack Hussein Obama. But my piece of advise to whomsoever be the winner would be, please don’t screw up like your predecessor did. And you already have your hands full, there’s lot of work to do, so don’t mix work with pleasure. In other word’s, it would be sensible to not have an affair within the white house, you could do without the controversy!

I dont care too much for money, money cant buy me SATISFACTION!

Yes I know the real line goes "I don't care too much for money, money cant buy me love". But I'm thinking in a more general view, cause not everyone is looking for love. Moreover the search for love is all about being happy and satisfied, so I choose to replace the word 'love' with satisfaction. I know happiness is the right word, but happiness is just a higher level of satisfaction and though most people dont know what makes them happy, they know what satisfies them. So lets stick with the more familiar feeling of satisfaction.

Of late I've been in quite a dilemma, well just the normal confusion of the "just out of college" individual on career decisions (you know, what do I do?, am I up to it? Will I screw up?). On one side I want to go into writing, now that's my heart speaking. But I have heard too many stories of the writer who could only afford to live in the godforsaken hut and died of starvation and the journalist who came home from a dangerous assignment of reporting from a war field only to find that his wife had left him because he was never at home, and the checks he sent wasn't good enough to keep the family alive.

On the other side I could be an engineer, thats my mind speaking. This not only would ensure a heavy purse, but would do justice to my four years of turmoil in a damn engineering college, that taught me to curse and lie more than anything else.

In the last few weeks, the world has been losing it over money with the recession, bankruptcy, stock market collapse and what not. Now I am ashamed to admit that I haven't been too keen in following the saga, because it doesn't directly effect me. In other words I haven't invested in any sorta shares, not because I wasn't interested, but because I never had the money for it. Anyways the whole episode made me realize that money does make the world go round and round.

So I was talking to my friends about their own career options and what would make them happy. 99% had one obvious answer and aim in life, MORE MONEY. Whether it be starting to work, changing jobs, switching careers, higher studies, going into business, in the end all had just one purpose to serve MORE MONEY. These are youngsters with no specific financial burden on their head of the age group 20-23 I'm talking about.

They have forgotten (or choose to ignore) their passion, for money is a passion too, isnt it?
and a passion that comes with other perks too. No I'm not trying to act like the sensible, 'not greedy' youth idol here, because somewhere along the line I become one of them.

On the other hand I met an artist yesterday. This was part of an assignment I got during my journalism internship with the Indian Express. Now this guy was a real artist, the kind you read of in books, with the really long graying beard (he could put Santa to shame) and the white kurta with the matching white dhoti. Now he is no MF hussain who gets millions for every piece of his. But he is one with great talent for art, and equally low desire for money.

His work is awesome, and he knows he could make quite a living if he went for the kill. Now his profession barely manages to pay his bills, but that isn't a much of a problem for him. The passion for the art which he claims is a 'madness' and the satisfaction he gets when he indulges in it, is incomparable to all the diamonds and fame in the world.

As I leave his studio in which his masterpieces are plastered all over his walls, I cannot but feel envious of him. Envious of his talent and his love for the profession. Envious of the happiness and satisfaction he gets from it. And most of all envious of the fact that I cannot think in his levels, I am incapable of resisting the materialistic pleasures of life.

Sometimes its better to just shut up and sit quietly!

To combat the Energy crisis that the world is forced to face, the Indian goverment has decided to re-introduce load-shedding. In other words called power cuts. I hate the very idea of it, but no I'm not one to complain as I do realize the whole project is done in common interest of the nation and its future generations.

Now the authorities have also asked the citizens to cooperate in the mission by using electricity judiciously, which in other words means "turn off the damn computer when you are not at your desk and go easy on the AC”

Few days back the electricity board people in my locality forgot to switch off the street lights in the morning. Now a normal person with normal problems in life would've ignored this and continued with the chaos of the day. But not my neighbor.

My neighbor who is a man of right values decided to do something about this. He like a true hero called up the electricity board and notified them on the same. So what do you expect from such an act, I'll say maybe reward him with no power cuts in his house for a couple of days. No, the electricity board thought differently, they decided to punish my neighbor and his whole neighborhood for their stupidity.

Yes they instead of just turning off the street lights, cut out the electricity of the whole locality for the next 5 hours. 5 hours for gods sake, I don't know how I survived it. I mean with no computer or T.V (yeah I know I sound like a moronic slave to technology, but it was too sunny to go outdoors and I wasn't in the mood to read books).

My mom was upset cause she couldn't use the mixer to grind something she needed for a new recipe. My dad wasn't at home when the tragedy happened, though he won't admit it I sense it was good news to him (the logic is lesser the electricity used, lesser the bill he has to pay).

A Family in the neighborhood was renovating their house, they were using some electricity run. Hi-Tech machine to saw a portion of their staircase, this had to be kept on hold due to the power failure. Similarly every house had an interesting sob story because of the cursed power cut.

So I'm just wondering if the damn government was so irresponsible how did they expect us to act. What was going through their mind when they played this lame joke. Maybe they were laughing at us this time, but only to ensure that next time their pee brains with automatic controls forgot to do something they ought to the people who suffered the wounds on this fatal day wasn't going to notify them if it posed any threat to their existence.

In between all this I wondered what the 'Hero' was doing, did he regret the call? Did he try calling them again? Would the incident transform him from the calm gentleman to the angry old man? I don't know. But I do know that next time I notice the governments power being wasted on the street lights in broad daylight the 1^st thing I 'll do is to call my neighbor and beg him not to repeat his heroic act!