K a N K .

Life was not meant to be like a complicated jungle. You made it complicated and I made it a jungle.

Yes, I am writing about…….. Relationships. So what amuses you more in the last sentences? Is it the ‘I’ or the ‘relationships’? At least I am trying….. elicited by KANK (Inspired will be the wrong word).

A relationship which needs an effort to maintain is not worth the effort. Effort is required initially when you are building it; to break the initial energy barrier, to break the ice. But if its really worth all these ‘discussions’ why don’t they simply understand that once built it has to be a self sustainable chain reaction. But not everybody can think at that level. Those who need an effort fall in the category of those who like KJo movies (KANK). And the majority comes from a particular sex. I really never wanted to invest myself in such a worthless effort. And I do feel wasted sometimes! My comments on KANK follows :-

Dev(SRK) is a Frustrated Failure with a huge and irritating Male Ego. But despite this ego he was never able to act like a man. He cant digest the superiority of his spouse and takes out all his frustration on the kid.

Maya(RM) is someone who always complains. This lady is in love with the idea of being in love. Must have grown up watching the same kind of movies and lives in an illusion. She has everything around herself that she needs to live a happy and contended life but still she is looking for something… I guess even she doesn’t exactly know what… and blames it all on AB. Has got no real work to do and so engages herself in obsessed cleaning needlessly and always insists on ‘discussions’. No real work and all bloody discussions. Disgusting!

The other two, PB and PZ are quite normal. Just like me and you. And the character portrayed by Big B is certainly a lot inspiring ……

Fools are tuned into heroes by KJo and the story is labeled as ‘Bold’. I may sound a bit phlegmatic or impassive but that it. Happiness should not be the reason for your worries but it seems to be the same in case of a hell lot of people….. the KJo types !

We Hate Each Other ;-)

Hatred is spreading like fire… in the jungle of love and companionship we call ‘orkut’. I got one forwarded message from one of my friends which read as :

SPREAD THIS LIKE WILD FIREThere are some pakistanis who have started a community 'V Hate India'the main pic is of our national flag burning...looking at that anyindian's blood should BOIL...We have to stop them. if you cant do muchatleast go to this community and click on "report as bogus", orkut willremove that community after 1000 such reports,lets teach a lesson tomembers of that communityhttp://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=14773994 please pass this 2 all Ur frnds....D FIRE !!!!!

But I knew there had to be a different side of the story as well I started researching on the moods of the Indian and Pakistani youths through the pages of orkut. And I was shocked to discover that Pakistanis are as much convinced about our malice as we are about theirs. They have their own reasons. The way we have our own. And hatred seems to be the only solution. But I am equally convinced that we Indians are far more peace loving and have a very soft foreign policy which most of the times irritates me. So why this irony?

I think for a Pakistani religion is of far more importance than nationality….. leave alone humanity. When a Paki soldier dies on border fighting us he never shouts ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in the end (like our Jai Hind or Vande Matram). He says ‘Allah Akbar’. And somehow the Pakistani media has pictured the image of India as an anti Islamist country. A country of Kafirs. Particularly after the cases like Babri Masjid demolition and Godhra. So before concluding anything against anybody I would like my readers to go through the following pages and not only ONE of them, as forwarded by your friends :-

http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=14773994 we hate india
http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=7410536 we hate pakistan
http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=1522473 india belongs to pakistan
http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=9138089 we hate pakistan bastard paki

On some of these pages I discovered that some of my Indian friends were dragging Indian Muslims in their enterprise against Pakistan. That really hurts me. May be because I was born and brought up far away from the shadows of VHP/RSS, always in a secular environment, or rather call it an environment where religion had no part to play. I know I cant go on convincing those leaders who have their eyes set on the mandate or millions of fools who give them the status of a demigod….. but….. for you my readers…. I have something to say… All terrorists are Muslims but all Muslims are not terrorists !!

You - The People

This entry is dedicated to the People ( remember .. to the people, for the people , by the people ... ) I had a talk with in the recent weeks.

Mr. V. One of my very close friend from the ship told me about his experiences in the BPO. One fine day the fat ladywith an amazing accent was teaching his class how to pronounce words containing 'oo' the American way. He was asked to give some examples after she had explained. Now the first word that came to his mind was 'smooch'. But my friend V is a very shy person. How could he speak that ?? Gathering much courage he finally did it. But unfortunately was not very audible. So he was asked to repeat .... again and again. And as soon as he made his last attempt and saw the lady grasping the word he had been saying a faint smile appeared on is face. He pulled his head down and the faint smile turned into a LOL... what next ?? "Get out of my class.... you shameless sailor ! This must be the reason why your parents dont want you to go to the sea.." The next class Mr. V was asked to say something on what he wanted to be... kind of extempore. And my dear friend couldn't hide his ambitions and started speaking on how desperate he was to become a captain.... standing there in a Call Centre !! You can guess what followed.

Etti, we met while waiting for the results at WNS interview in Vikhroli. Its too early to say anything but I think I have found a friend in her. Right now she is preparing for CAT and is a bit scared.... And camels take a note... she is from
Ajmer !!

Last weekend I was in Pune and I met a bunch of talent there.

Moin. After passing out from IIT KGP is working there in NVIDEA. I was happy for the accommodation they were getting, although for a month only. They had a bath tub in the bathroom... :) . So he is living in the 'present' right now... not thinking much of the future... dude, do u really need to give future a thought !!!

Anupam. Moin's roomie from same background (and foreground as well! ) originally from Allahabad. We mixed up really fast and really well... and I was amazed at that !

Rajiv. I wish I had met with him with a greater intensity... Workinng in TCS, Mumbai... was a bit frustrated...

Sharma. Passed out from IIT. Is doing a software job as well as teaching in IMS and earning around 50 k through all this.

I forgot his name. He was a Civil Engg. from IIT Kgp and was looking off-campus for some job in Pune. A very humble guy with very studious looks. The guy deserves a mention for getting selected in IIM L this year and then not joining it to have some play in the industry... "Next attempt mein Ahmedabad to mil hin jayega", he said.

If you are waiting to read about anyone else whom I met there in Pune then sorry... I m not gonna mention that ! Not now. However I confess in front of all of you that I have..... seen.... KANK !!! Would like to do its dissection in the next entry........

The way Mumbai moves : You wont need a compass.....

Last week I had a bad day at the MindSpace, Malad. I was returning back to the Malad station in the evening and just thought that I will save some money and instead of taking an auto I will take the long walk. I was on the road but had no idea which is the right direction. I got an idea. I just discovered one innovative method to reach the station. I started following the auto-rickshaws. One pushing the other there was a huge train of autos, moving at a snail’s speed. I started following it. Whenever I came at a crossroad I followed the direction to which maximum numbers of autos were going. I just kept on walking this way and soon ended up to the station. I just succeeded in my experiment !!

This speaks a lot about how Mumbai moves. The pivotal role that local trains play and the huge volume they carry. Be it morning or evening, the road most traveled will always lead you to the local station. Do you still need a compass !!

Well, that’s my latest theory and I have practically proved it myself. The image shows two locals moving like snakes on our very own Vashi bridge, over the Thane creek.

With reference to my last blog I would like to mention that ‘HT’ and ‘DNA’ are two newspapers whom I have observed using 11/7 and not 7/11. However there may be a few more. Good work guys…

The last week I had a nice fling with the BPO industry as I kept running from one to another to get a job but was constantly rejected. Few of the reasons told were like taking too many pauses while I speak, MTI (mother tongue influence), Nautical Science background, no commerce background, etc. I have observed that the intelligence level of these BPO guys was certainly quite low but at the same time they were too good at dressing and fagging. At one place I was quite amused to see mirrors put strategically in front of each table, so that you can see yourself while you attend to the international calls! Funny. And equally funny was to get rejected by them for a call centre job. But then Varun got it at one go….

So I believe there is something called destiny and may be I am destined to do something else. Something else like teaching physics. Ya… that’s again funny, particularly after all those swearing after the JEE in 2k3 not to touch those books again. But I am enjoying this job at Rs. 100 per hour. And the students are loving me. I just make them think…. That’s all.

Is it original !!

What’s the place of originality in our Indian society? One of the biggest emerging economies, do we lack in innovations? At least I always felt so. We do copy a lot. And when done anywhere other than the examination hall, I hate that ! Why do we need to have so much desperate to get recognition that we just cant be ourselves ?? OkAY, Just let me explain myself.

Mumbai Bomb blasts this July were not the first case of terrorist attack at such a big level. We had a similar tragedy in March of 1993. For a better communication we do need to give a tragedy some name. What did we call it ? Simply, “Mumbai bam kand” or “Serial blasts of Mumbai”. Fine. It was the single largest blast in Mumbai till recently. Then came the year 2k1, when the world saw the attacks on WTC,etc in the USA. And what did we call it ? 9/11. Meaning the eleventh day of the ninth month (September). And then came 11^th July when serial blasts rocked Mumbai. Our city suffered, our own innocent lives were lost. It was our very own tragedy. And our media seemed to be obliged. As if, proud to have something comparable to the extent of 9/11. I wonder how these people might have reacted in 1993 when they had no 9/11 to relate to. The day this time was 11^th. It was tempting. It was tough to let go the obsession we suffer for America and they did the shameful… they called it 7/11.

Why 7/11 and why not 11/7 ? Doesn’t it pops up the questions I have just written in the first para ??

In the USA they write dates in the format of mm/dd/yyyy, i.e.- month first. Hence, 11^th September was named 9/11. In India we follow dd/mm/yyyy, i.e.- day first. So the rational and normal name for the tragedy should have been 11/7, simply 11/7. But its so sad… frustrating… We wanted to show the world something. Uncle Sam, if you have 9/11. we too have a very rhyming one …. 7/11 .

//////////////////////////////////////