All the random thoughts

"Aap ki gaadi tho phas gayi sir"  He joined me as I looked in disbelief at my new car that just got its first dose of reality.  When I chose the parking slot in the morning, it looked like the perfect spot to easily reach the exit on my way out. So I manuvered the car to park there after driving through the spot just behind. If I had chosen the other lane then I'd had to do a reverse parking which is a pain. For various reasons I couldn't see a large box hanging down the roof at the entrance of the parking slot (if I had chosen to reverse maybe I'd have spotted it). The reasons for missing it, like I said, are various and varied. That's not the point though.   Anyways, as I started drivng out in a hurry while monkey balancing a serious conversation on the mobile phone, the top of the car hit that low hanging box and made a dent. Not a substantial dent but being the first one, hurt more. I got off the car, got off the phone and stared at the damaged car in disb...

"It's the elephant", yelled the mosquito in what seemed like it's Eureka! moment. "Sorry to be stallin' your train of thoughts" I interjected. "What's the elephant?" "It's the elephant that causes dengue and malaria", the mosquito shouted at the top of its voice. "It's also the elephant that ate all the lions , tigers and other endangered species" "What?" "Believe me. I am a very old mosquito and I speak from the experience and wisdom of a life time. What I am saying is the truth" "How old are you?" I couldn't resist. "Very old. In fact the oldest and most revered in my tribe", the mosquito said without sounding vain. "But if you insist, let me tell you, I am almost a day and half old" "But the elephant is probably thousands of times older than you. How do you know about it?" "Age is just a number" smiled the mosquito wr...

Now that the initial shock from the selection of Yogi Adityanath started to wear off, think about this. BJP had a complex analytical problem at hand. A mix of MLAs from 15+ different castes (rough guess) with various levels and permutations of getting alongness. Sample this - A and B get along but not with C and D; But when with E, A and C get along but not with B and D; However E gets along with B and D but not A and C. And so on. The strong heads and headstrongs struggled f or a week trying to solve the equation that Amit Shahs complex candidate selection created. All this while the solution was roaming around freely right in front of their eyes. The problem with the solution was that it was perceived as a solution for another problem and not the current one. So they struggled and struggled while the rest of the country admired their election win and media continued to give them backhanded compliments. Then one of the selection panel guys, sipping a cutting chai while on a wel...

I have never heard of any of these people returning their awards (while keeping the reward!). I had to write this because a friend of mine, who probably knew that I liked Gulzar’s work, asked me to respond when Gulzar made some statement about “rising intolerance”. Gulzar and others might be responding based on the newspaper reports and media trials. There is a very conscious effort on part of the media to build negative perceptions and opinions after every minor incident in the country. Falling into that trap and then changing ones world view accordingly is a sad reflection of ones state of mind. Has someone responded based on actual data? How many incidents of intolerance have occured in this country in the last year? How many of them would have been ignored as 'stray incidents' if Congress were in power and why they are being attributed to 'intolerance' otherwise? In how many cases have the police reports and courts have actually corroborated the media judgmen...

"And you are?" the visa officer had a somber expression as he riffled through the documents.   The man replied.   "You are American? What do you need a Visa for then?" dealing with Indians can be exasperating some times.   "I am not American sir. That is my name. I am an Indian" the man explained.   "So you are an Indian but named American? Why'd your parents do that?"   "May be they wanted me to be rich. That's what my name means"   The officer sighed. "You have no idea my friend. It is only a select few that become super rich but there is rest of us who need to toil in strange lands with strange names, then we have illegal immigrants from Mexico who are poor, then there are benches full of Indians in our downtowns - and their names are strange too and more. But yes, your lot are much better off in our country. Anyways, why do you want to relocate?"   "Not me sir. My wife wants to...

The atmosphere in the room was, let's say, electro-mechanical. At one end was a regal looking lady occupying the only chair in the room. Her head was in the middle of of other confabulating heads and, the only one visible as she oversaw a circle of black/white and bald tops around her. This was the Mechanical part of the room. At the far end were the still green future confabulators who were arguing amongst themselves about the presence or lack of it of the revered halo on the lady's head. "There it is. I just saw it" a young one shouted excitedly. "Where? Where?" everyone else had disappointment writ on their faces at missing the opportunity to spot it - that which had its only parallel in another such light at Sabarimala. It was all this positive and negative sightings that made this end of the room Electrical. All was routine until this sudden interruption. "You should not have responded that way, Madamji" a voice spoke from the m...

I was busy the past few weeks with home work, 'class' work and of course watching live telecast of the 'terror' serial on various news channels. It was kind of dejavu for me as I was reminded of the early days of Iraq war of 2003 and watching the live coverage of the war on the various news channels in America. The difference though was, in 2003 the perpetrators of war were broadcasting and in Mumbai 2008 it was the victims of the war who were the broadcasters. As for similarities, there were many. The same underlying insensitivity to the happenings on ground, the shameless passion for sensationalism, 'creation' of news when there was not much to report and so on. Now, if I were watching all that was being telecast, then what moral right do I have to complain? But it is always interesting to comment on 'isolated incidents'. For example, I realized that my passion for news during the period of terror was similar to my wife's passion for some TV serial...