Sunday, March 23, 2008

Random rants 4 - imaginary (underlined) note

Why do you still occupy real estate in my mind? Why does the spring breeze still remind me of the smell of your hair ? Why do the laughing children only remind me of your innocent smile ? Why does my heart beat faster every time I think of you ? Why do the colors of the world appear brighter everytime I start my day with the sound of your voice ?

The concepts of "hearts" and "clouds" now are clearer to me. The cold breeze of the winter only reminds me of the warmth I used to feel when you were beside me. I miss your gentle touch like the flakes of snow that gently kiss my forehead in the winter storm.

Although its only an ocean that separates us, it still feels like we're light years apart. There isn't a flight thats fast enough to get you into my arms. Now that I'm here there are so many things I wish I would have told you when I had the chance. I dread the day when I'll come to know its too late to tell you those things.

And all I'll be left with are memories of you, memories of the songs that remind me of you, memories of my thoughts about you, and memories of how I lost you before I even found you.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Random rants 3

There are lots of people who are in dire need of a personal galileo

Whats Galileo got to do with these people ? Well - these kind of people go around the world and life thinking that the universe revolves around them. Someone needs to give them a total reality check and let them know that they dont own the universe outside their own tiny minds.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Random rants - 2

I hate f**in smoke alarms - I absolutely hate those bloody things. And I dont smoke. These bloody things are "Mandated" by law in every house. Stupid things sit like idiots on dope, and go off when cooking food !! Ive set off the alarms twice now, and only due to cooking. And when it beeps the only way to make it stop is to cover it with a towel or cloth, and just wait and hope it stops beeping - you cant even yank the f**in thing out of the wall - as that is illegal again. So much for "safety device" - just another form of control....piece of sh**... I'm so glad we build houses of stone and bricks in india - and not wood, and so dont have these crappy things installed by "law"

----------

Bloggers seem to be optimistic - whenever a bad thing happens, instead of cribbing they immediately think of it as new material for the blog and become happy about it instead. I was just talking to a friend recently and she confirmed the same !

-------

Scientists are going mad. They've injected spider DNA into goats - and now use the goat milk to extract proteins to make some strong thread like spider thread ! What the hell.

--------

Fruit flies that bore offspring late in their life systematically passed genes of longer life span to their offspring . So over 100 generations, the offspring of the offspring of the offspring of the....(100 times) of the initial fly - had 3 times longer a lifespan.

So scientists think that if every offspring of humans started having kids late in life around 30-40yrs - by the year 3000, we'd have humans living 200-300 years easy.

But this kinda also reminds me of something i read in the bible - there are mentions of the first women on earth giving birth to children well into three digit ages, and people living 500-600 years....strange isnt it.

so doing reverse engineering, somewhere along the way, women must have started having kids earlier and earlier till we ended up with short life spans as we do now !

-------------

Its hard to wake up in the morning. And its just a mental thing. Not the time zone, not the temperature - just all in the mind. Weekends i get up at 6 and cant sleep even if i want to...weekdays no matter how much I sleep (and i sleep at least 8 hrs or more) I find it hard to get up at 6

sheesh

----------

There are potholes in usa as well - not just an indian phenomena. Only difference is here its fixed at least within a few days or weeks of its appearance, unlike in india where potholes become landmarks. People can even tell directions based on potholes "take the road to the big hole on the road, take a right to the next hole, and ...". There are potholes in udupi that grew along with me. As I grew up in size (all directions) so did the potholes (in all directions) - i miss my friends


----------
Socks turn up at the weirdest places. My gray left sock's long lost twin suddenly turned up today - but i have no idea as to where it came from. I am sure there is some abduction conspiracy out there - they are abducting my socks one by one and doing tests on them and returning them to my room.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

The Yin and Yang

This is a real incident that I'm gonna describe. Some of it might be hard to believe, and some of it is really disturbing - but its the absolute truth. I'm not gonna reveal the source of the story, for the safety of someone I really love and respect - who played a major role in the story.

This is the story of a little girl, not even 2 years old. Shailaja - "lovingly" called Shailu - but she's not known any form of love in her life. A little girl who's been through so much, though she's not old enough to know what she's been through. A little child who was raped - yes, you read it right - RAPED, by a sick fucker.

This lil girl had everything working against her even before she was born - her mother is a labor worker (read one meal a day or less) living in the slums of vile parle in mumbai, her mother is a widow, and her mother has 3 other daughters to feed. This is the life she was born into - and this is the context through whole ordeal - and i must urge you to keep this context in mind as you read further.

Shailu was raped few days back. And this situation boggles me to no extent - how a man could even think of doing such a thing to a little baby. And the man isn't some crazy lunatic, or some pedophile out of jail - he is an everyday well to do person, owning a design studio (no less) in mumbai. It even sounds too ridiculous to be true - but the proof is for all to see.

Little shailu now lies in a hospital - covered in bruises and ...i cant even get myself to describe her condition. I'm just gonna paste the chat I had with the person who told me this.

"tht sick man actually bit her cheeks and stuff..."

"one side of her face is completely gone..."

"she gets scared if anyone so much as touches her head"

This came out to public knowledge in sometime after it happens, as it always does in the news, before people move on, and such matters go to dust. But this time there was something different. This person (who i have unlimited respect for now) actually decided to take up this cause, coz living in mumbai she knew very well that this matter would take 2 days to disappear as unexistential.

So as any citizen would do in a child related crime - her first action was to call CRY - the so called world crusader for childrens rights - only to be told that they cannot involve themselves because the child is not an orphan !

Now it was clear that unless something was done - and done by people themselves - nothin would transpire out of this.

She took it upon herself to do whatever necessary to save the child. Her friends also got into the movement - supporting every step of the way. This is the true youth of india, that we talk about and hear about in so called nationalistic songs - and not the idiots with knives and swords who go on a rampage when some old fart sitting in power tells them to.

Anyway - so these bunch of friends first gauged the situation. There were couple of important factors to consider to solve the matter.

1) The mother of the child was an unstable character in this. She was ready to sway either way depending on the money factor. If the man who raped the child gave her money, she was ready to take the child and give it to the man who raped her ! Now this is where the context comes into play, for a mother of 4 this kind of money means more than 1 child - when survival is at stake, money is money, even if it means letting go of one child.

2) A police case needed to be registered and this guy needed to be caught. And as any indian would know - getting caught in india is just a joke - its whether or not you get a witness to testify that matters. And at this point again it came to whether the mother would take back the case for money.

3) Once the man was behind bars, what would become of the child. Knowing the situation in india - he would probably be out, scot free in no time - putting the little child's life at risk. So something needed to be done to save her life and future

So first they called a charitable mission (name withheld on request) which thankfully responded at the first phone call. They came to the child's rescue, and are now getting set to take care of the child. However, again at this point the legality comes into play since the child officially has a mother.

There was the option also, where one of the "good guys" offered to take care of the entire family (the mother and 4 girls) for next 5 years.

The mother of the child now had many "good" options in front of her, along with the offer from the bad guys to take back the case for money. Meanwhile, the bastard who raped the child was arrested (a rare occurance in itself, for rich indians) - thanks to constant persuasion from the group of friends and this person in particular (who told me about this).

Imagine a person who's never even stepped into a police station taking initiative to get a criminal arrested !! This is what the drive of "doing the right thing" can achieve.

Anyway, as we were chatting about this - she got a phone call from one of her friends - an update on the situation - that the mother was willing to let go of the child for a price (not too much but a hefty sum for a dailywage laborer). One of the youth group , a kind doctor has agreed to pay that price - and officially "release" the girl from her mother - so the organization can take care of her, and away from the slums and the criminal who destroyed her.

So right now the hope is that

1) the lawyers of the criminal dont try buyout the mother again and mess up the situation again
2) the girl continues to recover and be safe in the hospital
3) the charity mission doesnt back out from this due to political pressure
4) the youth are able to spend their time, money on this without any pressure from their parents - coz generally parents talk all big, but when kids get their hands dirty in a good cause , want them out of it.

Thats the story of Shailu - a story that got a "twist" before it even got the plot.

But in all this dark mess that went on - there is good that happened - in a crime of total brutality love triumphed. Yes, this was a horrible incident that happened - but - through the bad rose a lot of good. The yin and yang.

A bunch of young people now know how it feels to fight for the unvoiced. And I know for a fact that these people will not stop here - coz the thirst to do good is like an addiction that sticks on in your mind. Once you know how wonderful it feels to see someone smile through their pain - you can never settle for anything less. Love prevails over all - and now i know that there is at least one group of people in mumbai that will not keep their eyes, ears and hearts shut.

In closing , a couple of quotes from my friend who spearheaded this - God bless her.

"those smiles i saw thr made me realise tht life's more than just being religious and having a clean image u know.....its just about making a troubled soul smile....even if u dont get a loud credit for it"

" i can never forget the way she smiled when i gave her a small bar of chocolate...she cud not eat so she said she'll keep it for later whe her "boo boo" is better..."

The next time some fear-preacher comes and says - the world is going to end, the world is going to dogs - tell him to shove it.

We make the world what it is, and what it will be.

*****************************************************

Update on Shailu (March 18) - Shailu is now doing better. Shes able to have food now - and just had lunch today. She's also been shifted to a much better hospital. The hospital administration heard of her story and are charging very less for her treatement.

And heres the best part - She is going to be taken care of by the charitable mission (yay) and is headed to Pune on 20th.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Showbiz

Just a bunch of lights really...but something about this pic soothes me

Artistic pipes



I am not sure what these pipes really are...they pop right out of the ground at 12th street on Nicollete avenue. They look cool though

Thursday, March 6, 2008

BOSE !!

Just bought my first pair of bose headphones .... These babies cost me like $200 :( ... But its worth it.... Bose is something I've eyed for a long long long time - from visiting the showrooms all the time just to take free demos...to checking the bose websites every now and then to see if they reduced the prices (ha)

But finally thought I should give myself a present - a delayed birthday gift. After all I've travelled halfway around the world and managed to settle down pretty decently...So thought of treating myself to this luxury.

I will try not to blab too much about bose ... but imagine a single company thats now synonymous with good sound. Bose is not necessarily the best in the world, there are better - more expensive speakers out there....but for a common man - when someone says good speakers - it rings the sound "Bose"

Anyway, these babies sound as good as I hoped they would. The bass is crisp and clear, I even had to turn off my equalizer settings coz bose is designed to amplify natural sound frequencies so amazingly that any extra fiddling through software ruins the experience. The sound is cleaaaaaar and amazing. I'm hearing bass lines that I've never heard before, parts of the sound track that are crystal clear but never heard on normal speakers

The downside - now that I know how good it CAN be - i wont settle for nuthin less now. My good ol' sony earphones and LG headset will never sound the same again. Its like giving a cocaine addict a coffee ..hehe..

Anyway, for 200 bucks, im glad its just as amazing as i hoped...coz otherwise I'd be banging my head on the walls !! And now my only hope is I dont break these things too soon ...coz unlike headphones and earphones that can be bought without a second thought - this will require a lot of thinking before a second buy...or will it...hmm

Saturday, March 1, 2008

For gazal

Damn...now see what u've done... I've to write what I dont like about women ?? Its bad enough that I'm single already - with this post around I'm gonna die single

I refuse to write against human women... ! hehe . Instead I pick mosquitoes that bite humans, which are also all women, and write what I dont like about them.

But 10 things I dont like about mosquitoes = and suggestions to ANY genetic engineers here


1) they buzzzzzzzzzz too much. Someone should develop silencers for these critters, instead of DDT and malaria

2) Mosquitoes bite in bad places, where u cant reach to scratch. They should genetically engineer mosquitoes to bite only acceptable places.

3) Mosquitoes make a bloody mess (literally) when u squish them. Someone should inject the anemia gene into these buggers.

4) Mosquitoes can see in the dark, you cant - hence u end up slapping yourself 100 times to hit the mosquito 1 time. Someone should inject those "glow in the dark" thingies into mosquitoes

5) Mosquitoes can communicate with their friends. One bite is often followed by 200 other mosquitoes that come in to join the party and enjoy the buffet (you). Someone should destroy the mosquitoes' communication satellites and cellphone network (BSNL - just as irritating as a mosquito)

6) Mosquitoes sometimes sit on the food. Now that is just ewwwwww. Mosquitoes bite in humans in different places, without discrimination. Now imagine they sitting on your food after visiting the disgustingly dirty hairy bugger living nextdoor and biting his..er... u get the picture. Someone should design washingmachines for these girls so they can cleanup before getting on the food.

7) Mosquitoes are not the best of conversationalists. They say only "mmmmmmmmmmm". That kind of helps when you are talking about your problems, they can give a "mmm" in agreement or "mmm" in disagreement. But this kind of gets monotonous after a while u know. They need to learn a better vocabulary. Now this is a job for the english professors here (gazal - mission for you).

8) Mosquitoes are generally bad with their manners. They come in unannounced and uninvited. There are some parties where you just want the flies around dammit, not everyone wants you bloodsucking vamps at every party - take a hint. Someone send them to "Culture exposure, Humans 101" at the university of Mosquitochusets

9) Mosquitoes are partial. They are also sometimes racist. They should always see that everyone gets equal pleasure of being bitten. Its not fair that the fat guy in the room gets bitten 100 times and everyone else wonders why this guy is hitting himself and scratching like a flea ridden dog. "Culture exposure, Humans 101"

10) Mosquitoes dont taste good. When they are dumb enough to go inside your mouth as you snore, they should at least have the decency to taste good. Someone should genetically engineer flavoured mosquitoes. Seriously

Well. Thats about as much as i can write about mosquitoes. Now see what you've done gazal. I'm gonna have the MMM (Maaskito mahila morcha) catch the next USA flight to come and talk to me about my attack on them

:( I blame you gazal...totally...
The purpose of life it seems, is to complete life itself. We all wander about life as if it were a maze lined with candies and fluff, leading us from one point of temporary pleasure to the next. Vague as that might seem, that seems to me how life is today - we really are moving from one emotional high to the next...like drug addicts in search of the next new pill on the market.

However, at the back of everyones mind and at the front of everyone's thoughts - everyone yearns for a simpler time, a happier time, a cleaner place and a safer life.

Look at the things humans create and then spend their time and more money worrying how to destroy them !! Its like we dig holes for ourselves, and then worry about not falling into it - instead of not digging it in the first place.

Im bored.