A Perfect Ten

"God is back"

- a journalist, after Sachin Tendulkar pats back a trademark on-drive for four

The Day The Earth Did Not Stand Still

Dear Leaders of the World,

Don't you really resent the Tsunamis, the Katrinas and the 7.6s on the Richter Scale.

Heard someone commenting the other day about the recent earthquake, the lethal tsunami that levelled the land that two armies once pockmarked with pride. This person put the toll at about a thousand indians and about 30000 terrorists. A comment that I am sure many more 'proud' Indians would be making. A comment that would be equally callous even if each one of the dead had the blood of many on their hands.

Then I read in the newspapers and hear it on the news, the words of our leaders and our people - 1300 Indians dead. Duh! Am I missing something here? How is it that we take offence if a piece of paper shows PoK as disputed or part of Pakistan but do not recognise the people that inhabit the land as our own. Is it for that that we have been at loggerheads with Pakistan for more than half a century. An itsy bitsy piece of land. Mostly useless. Now more so.

This also made me reflect on a thought that struck me with equal force when the Tsunami snuffed out lakhs of lives. Squeezed in between the widespread coverage of the disaster were reports about five Israelis dead in Gaza or two and a half Americans injured in Baghdad. Pales into insignificance, doesn't it? It's as if nature's cocking a snook at the bin Ladens and the Bushes of the world and crowing, "Let's see you top that!".


This has been a year of disasters and perhaps when we look back at the year there will be very few who will be talking about war and terrorism. Wouldn't it be great if we never have to discuss 9/11, PoK, Baghdad or the West Bank at New Year's Eve? Ever!

Mithunda Rocks

...and then there was this Georgian in the apartment lift who, on learning that we were Indians, broke into an impromptu jig while humming "Jimmy jimmy jimmy aaja..."

Serendipity

There are some incidents that make you want to pull your hair out in frustration, and then there are those that simply warm the cockles of your heart. If these incidents are related and happen to you on the same day then they often stay with you for a lifetime.

The other day we had a run-in with the police on a traffic violation of driving on an invalid license. We were hauled up to the police station and had a case registered against us (Yes yes! There are people out there in this world who think a license is much more than a plastic card with your photo on it).

Well, there was this policeman who was writing out a statement for us. He was filling out some details from my friend's Indian passport and he writes for 'Place of Birth' - Sujangarh, Sri Lanka.

"It's India", said my friend.

This fellow writes India in brackets beside Sri Lanka.

"Not Sri Lanka. India !! Cut Sri Lanka", hollers my friend.



Contrast this with what happened when we were returning by taxi. I was on the phone with a friend, yakking away in Hindi. As soon as I finished the call I was amazed to hear "Chalo dildaar chalo, chaand ke paar chalo..." wafting out of the taxi's speakers. Just by listening to me speak the taxi driver had made out that we were from India.

Looking at my amazed expression he explains, "Mother India...big hit...dubbed into greek."

Apparently 'Mother India' was a huge success in Greece. How that is connected to a song from 'Pakeezah' I couldnt make out but I have to admit, the song never sounded sweeter to me as it did then.

Think Different

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The trouble-makers.
The round heads in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them.
But the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

- Apple Computers

Mostly Harmless !

Our universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
In all of the directions it can whiz;
As fast as it can go,
that's the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth;
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!

- Monty Python

WWWhat's in a Name?

Did the most stupid thing the other day. As they say, an idle mind is the devil's workshop.

Was tinkering with blogger, trying to publish my blog to multiple URLs (to maximise the revenue potential $-) ). Tried publishing to http://phenomental.blogspot.com and it worked fine but then the earlier one http://the_pheno_menon.blogspot.com no longer had the blog and when i tried reverting back to it, Blogger apologised that it doesn't allow underscores in their URLs. Apparently there's been a change in policy since they first started handing out blog spaces.

Well that's that then, here I am in a new place in cyberspace. Wish moving houses were as easy.