Democracy

Hate speech
Drove a wedge
Into the thinking hearts

The chief evaded media questioning

But buckled under peoples ballot mandate

Posted in 3 word wednesday
Prompt - evade,buckle,wedge

Change in equiments!

Image source - lg.com

LG is hosting an idea collection drive to improve their consumer durables. You can provide ideas on what you want as a feature in TV, computer screen, microwave oven, refrigerator, home theater, AC, washing machine and mobiles. This is a new concept which is adopted by several companies in recent times. You can provide your ideas here. 

Here are some ideas that I have submitted.

• Washing machine - A machine which can hold the detergent and after wash powders. Depending on the load and the dirt level, the machine automatically picks up the required amount of washing powder and after wash substances (like blue, starch etc)

• TV stand integrated with TV. The height of which should be adjustable. This helps me in watching the TV while sleeping on the floor without stressing\stretching my neck. We can also increase the height so that small kids do not fiddle with the TV.

• Home theater that plays from songs in an USB memory stick.

• Refrigerator with ice tray below and vegetable stand above. Typically the least used part of the fridge is the ice tray. The vegetable tray is the most used. And adults have to bend to get the tray out. This is very difficult for the elderly people. Kids would want their ice cream and ice at an accessible height. So place the ice tray at the bottom and the vegetable tray on the top.
• As a corollary the fridge door needs to have 2 handles (one at the top and one at the bottom).
• Handles should not be projecting out of the fridge (it should not be a hindrance when walking)

• Refrigerator - Have the skin of the fridge changeable. This can be changed as per the user's choice of colors (perhaps fitting to the painting around it).

• A weigh scale or a measurement instrument integrated with the oven. Many times, recipe says "take 200 gms of flour". How do I measure it?

• A weigh scale (Fitness check instrument) below the fridge. Just pull from below the fridge and stand on it. It weighs and gives all other vital parameters of the body. Fridge is the apt instrument as it stores our daily food…The instrument can store the history readings to give some vital details.

Educate via Silence

Image source - Blog (Google image search)

Her silence in the evening

Is a sign of objection,

Educating me on time.

Posted in 3 word Wednesday

Prompt - Object, Silence, Educate

Useless Map

Image source - Google Image Search

Lost in the jungle

With a map in hand

Sweating with fear

As darkness arrives

Look at the guide

Worthless it seems

Shout to nobody's ears

A standstill life

Lacking the right compass

While in the forest

Shred the useless map

Aimlessly I continued my walk

Posted for ThemeThursday -  Prompt Map

Question

‪Harry was rich. He was rich enough to have an early retirement at the age of 40. Harry’s business grew at a rate which he never foresaw. But he was not happy. He wanted to be a senator.‬

‪Harry leaned on his mentor, Sally for advice. “Make a movie. Get mass support for your thoughts via the movie. Then stand for elections”, came the advice.‬

‪So Harry made a movie. In the movie, he would help the poor and make them rich even at the expense of him becoming poor. The movie was a hit. His ideas and sympathies earned him publicity. “A successful first step”, he thought.‬

‪It was election time. Sally planned his campaign. They dabbled with new techniques of campaigning. Giving free tickets to his movie, hiring large screens in public places to screen the movie etc.‬

‪As part of the campaign, Harry had an open question and answer session with university students.  He expected some questions and had prepared with Sally for the answers for those questions.‬

‪“There are rumors that you want to become a senator to foster your business goals. What do you have to say?”‬

‪“I have earned enough to survive for my life. Even my next generation can survive with the money I have. I do not want any law change to earn more. If I wanted more money, I would invest into business and not in politics and people. It was my father’s dream that I become a senator. And I hope you will fulfill his wish by voting me.”‬

‪“What will you do for the state after you become Senator?”‬

‪“The state is poor. Infrastructure is pathetic. Drinking water is expensive. There are many homeless people. I want to change these. Everybody would get good affordable food in my state. There would be a roof under which you can lean. There will  be prosperity.”‬

"Sir, I have a question. You have lot of money to serve society and improve things. Why don't you spend and bring prosperity? You yourself do not want to be a senator. You are here to fulfill your dad's wish. Why should we vote you to fulfill your father's wish?"

Harry searched for an answer. But could not utter one.

Posted in 3 word Wednesday - Prompt : Utter, lean, dabble
‪

Test of patience

Image source

Title fight to start

Eager to reach stadium

Stuck hours in traffic

Test of patience passed

Posted in Theme Thursday - Prompt : Test
Posted in Acrostic Only

Venus Fly Trap

Image source - Wikipedia

Venture into beauty

Eagerness to suck

Never suspecting treachery

Umbrella like view

Sight attracted insect

First compression started

Light became dark

Young limbs crushed

Trick successfully executed

Rare meal caught

Another amicable look

Ploy set again

Posted in Acrostic Only - Prompt : Venus Fly Trap

Judgement - Short story

The blast occurred at nightfall. Innocent little kid died. The peaceful city was shaken. People recollected the horrible deaths due to bomb blasts months ago. Safety norms were tightened.  The terrorist was captured.

Judge listened to the arguments.  Judgment was pronounced.  “Killing is crime. No man has the right to take another man's life. You have no right to kill the innocent kid. You are guilty. Likewise, I too do not have any rights to take your life. You will live in prison for rest of your life.”

The eyes of the mother of the dead kid were still not dry.

Posted in ThreeWordWednesday - Prompt: Judge, Nightfall, Safety

Blogging - Acro

Cartoon By Dave Walker

Blurt out feelings

Let world know

Offer different perspectives

Gather others views

Garner new friends

Ignite new thoughts

Note memorable reminiscences

Gain by communicating

 

Somehow all lines of this Acro mean / indicate the same. Nothing new comes up in any line. Not good? Probably yes.

Posted in Acrostic Only - Prompt : Blogging

Eye - Acrostic Haiku

Image source - DigitalMission

Eyes hide ugly world

Yearn single penny

Express hunger by hand

Posted in Acrostic Only - Prompt: Eye

SpongeBob - Acrostic

Super sea sponge

Pineapple his home

Octopus as enemy

Naughty friends galore

Gift kids love

Extremely energetic behavior

Bursts of laughter

On Nickelodeon channel

Best called SpongeBob

Posted for Acrostic Only - Prompt SpongeBob

The Mystery

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 17; the seventeenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Image source - InstaBlogImages

Incident 1 - Chai boy


I was stuck in a small village. The car had broken down. Saw the chai shop nearby and went straight in. The driver was fixing the car. I ordered for chai and sat next to a well dressed young guy. At some distance, on the ground, sat a guy with a glass next to him. The chai boy served him chai in that glass, which the man carried back with him. During the conversation with the guy next to me, I got to know that the person with his own glass was a dalit, an untouchable. And the guy next to me was from an upper caste.

That night, i stayed in the small town nearby to visit the famous monastery. I met the same two guys in a hotel. The dalit was a chai boy in the hotel. He served me and the upper caste guy, chai and food.

Incident 2 - Friday festival


At the customer factory, is a rather unique tradition. Every friday, after 5 pm there will be a prayer and pooja ceremony for the machines they use. Every week a new worker performs the pooja. I was told that this is predominantly a Hindu tradition. On the day Harris Thomas performed the pooja, he distributed cake as the so called prasad to everybody. Like every friday that day was no different.

Incident 3 - Launch


It was the most ambitious satellite project of India. The launch date was nearing and the satellite was to be mounted on the rocket. Sheik Aslam was the leader of the project. He was supervising the operations. Just before the automatic machine was to be switched on to take the satellite to the launch vehicle, Mr Aslam performed a traditional aarthi to the elephant God of Hindus. He sprinkled the holy water on all the scientists around him. As we all know today, the launch was successful.

Incident 4 - Village dargah


My driver asked for a day off. Balwinder Singh had been a good friend as he drove me through India. He said that he had to go to his village dargah to perform the annual tradition. Mr Singh's ancestors had settled in southern India because of trade prospects. As a family tradition, Balwinder's family was to present a new peacock feather to the muslim dargah on its annual day. I joined Mr Singh's family in the festivities. It was amazing to watch more Hindus than muslims in the dargah that day. Sikhs were in small numbers but respected well.

Klaus Sebastian closed his diary and pen, in the flight back to his home. His stay in India was incredible. He was determined to de mystify the mystery of castes and relgions in modern India, when he is back at home in Germany.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Dubai - Acro

Dubai - Image from Europe Autos

Do not forget shopping

Under burning hot sun

Best sliding sand dunes

Absorb ocean into land  

Illustration of human creativity

Posted in Acrostic Only - Prompt Dubai

Accident

Image from TopNews

It was the accident which the government had to take notice off. The world watched the response of the nation. The lives lost were not ordinary ones. Some of the most influential business men and politically connected men had died. After months of arrangement, a week of excellent stay, it was unfortunate that the nation had to see these deaths. The head of the state had not anticipated for this catastrophe. How could he?

The bus was moving at a pleasurable speed in the curvy road along the Alps. The summer had just set in. The Alps was in its glory days again. Small caps of the snow covered the peaks of the mountain range. The traffic was only from the security vehicles surrounding the bus. The other traffic had been deviated on the otherwise busy road connecting the Swiss towns.

The men had enjoyed their stay in the resorts. They had made some strategic business deals and relaxed with their families. It was time to say bye and join their workforce in their home nations. They were on the last stretch to board the chartered planes at the airport. Then the accident happened.
 
A rock came falling from the peak and crushed the bus. The rock had settled well. Parts of the bus and humans were thrown all over the place.  The road was red in blood. Within minutes helicopters were hovering around the place. Rescue teams arrived from all possible sides. All they could do was to move the rock away and put the pieces of the bodies in different bags.

Now the head of states met to discuss the aftermath of the accident. The main agenda was to come up with a plan so that such accidents would not happen again.

“The road is repaired now. But the damage has hit the traffic. People do not use the road any longer. The rail traffic has increased. They prefer to take the longer train than drive through the Alps. This has affected trade in the two towns. Lorries refuse to take the road. The damage is in the mind”, announced a minister.

“What was the reason for the disaster?” came a straight question.

The home minister stood - “Global warming!”.

Eye brows went up in surprise. It was anticipated by the minister.

He continued “The actual reason for the accident is indeed Global warming. Due to the excessive heat during the summers, the snow at the top of Alps melts. There are lots of rocks on those monstrous mountains, which are held together by snow. The snow is a glue. And they have remained bonded by this glue since centuries. Now because of global warming, the glue melts faster. The bonds between the rocks are gone. They crash down. And one such rock claimed the lives of those rich men.”  The reasoning made sense – to everybody.

“What next?”

“We need to control Global warming. This has been addressed several times. The measures are in place. To prevent such accidents, we should watch the rocks and the glue. And watch them always. Technology will help us. It’s big money and work, but helps. Put cameras on the mountains watching the stones. Automatically monitor the snow movements by comparing the photos of the previous days. Based on this, if there is a danger - close the roads for human traffic.”

After some more discussions the plan was approved. 

After implementation, there have been no accidents but the road was closed many times.

Ballot

Image source

Since a month her husband came home drunk and without any money.

How could she run the family? It was just one woman earning that too as a housemaid. 2 children and a bedridden mother-in-law to be taken care.

She had seen many elections come and go. Nothing had changed her life. And never she had bothered to vote.

Her landlady had taught her a lesson in the last month. “Voting is everybody’s right. By voting the right candidate, everybody’s life would change. Including yours”, she had said.

Her husband had almost forgotten carpentry. Since the time the elections was announced, he stopped working for the furniture shop. He was now a campaigner.

He went to the “People party” office every morning. He held a flag in hand and went on a procession behind the party candidate to the villages. Shouting praises at times. Free food and free alcohol was up for grabs.

“A man would sacrifice anything for alcohol”, she thought.

Election day came. He had not got up. He had excessive alcohol the day before. She did not bother to wake him up.

She went to the polling booth to exercise her ballot for the first time in life. She remembered her landlady’s words – “Vote the right candidate”. In the queue, she met her friends and spoke to them about voting and shared her choice, even before voting.

As she went to cast her vote, she was clear with her choice – “Anybody other than People party.”

That night, her husband got up just in time for dinner. She had a victorious smile. A smile that showed that “People party” had missed the family’s 2 votes and some of her friends'.

Conspiracy

Salam Bhai,

Things are going according to our plan. We are all set for the D-day. India will shake. India will listen. And we will win. Months of effort will see fruits by year end. When we meet again in November, I have only good news to share. 2010 will be the year of resurgence for us.

Our British bhais have stuck to the task. It started with our agents bribing the organizing committee. Indians fell for it. I bribed a lot and sent them sub-standard material for their stadiums. But, I could not force our men into the venues. Security was very tight in India. That was when our master-brain came with this idea.

1. Our agents delayed the shipment of goods for the venues. Work lagged. Venues were not meeting deadlines. They are incomplete. Rains added to our joys. Leaks in the venues (partly because of our agents sub-standard goods) are creating panic in organizing committee.

2. I leaked the bribery stories to the Indian media. Indian media made big news out of this.

Bhai, I know that our agents will be caught. But a small sacrifice will help us in achieving the bigger motive.

Now all efforts of the Govt, is to make the games a success. They are covering up the bribery issues. They are working on fast pace to complete the venues on time. For this they have recruited more laborers. Some of these additional laborers are my men. Government has no time to do security check. And media is not capturing the security lapses. They are busy with the corruption scandal. So in one master move, I have removed 2 obstacles - media and security. Now it is our time.

My sources in Govt already told me that a mock security drill will be conducted at the venues. This drill will be done to impress the foreigners but there will be no serious security drill. They have no time for it.

On the day of opening ceremony, when the venues are full - the attack will happen.

The world would watch us. India will be shattered. What we did not achieve in South African world cup, we will achieve in India.

Shukriya,

Agent 617

Disclaimer –

This is purely a fiction. I wrote this before the Common Wealth Games, when media was exposing the corruption scandals surrounding the games.

My worst fear then, is described in the form of a letter. A letter by a terror agent to his boss. Boasting of his plot to derail Common Wealth Games 2010.

Double century

Image source

He had no writing experience...apart from writing exams in the school and college.

After graduation he moved to an industry where writing meant typing. Key boards were the new pens. He wrote using key boards.

Unlike his academic study period, in the industry he wrote code. LOC, they called it. Lines of code.

Occassionally he started writing something called MoM. Minutes of Meeting. Why is it called minutes, when at time it took hours to write it?

As he gained experience in the industry, he wrote SpeDes. Specifications and Design. And now he realised that writing also meant drawing. They were the new drawing methodologies - Flow charts, sequence diagrams, class diagrams etc etc.

In the midst of all these, the only time he wrote about himself was during the performance talks. He then wrote, what is good about himself, what he wants to do in future, what he did in the past, what he learnt in the process of writing LOC, SpeDes, flow charts etc. He felt happy doing this. And he felt that he has to do this more often.

That was the period, he learnt a new word called BLOG. He realized that this is the space where he can express freely about himself and the surrounding world. He started writing blogs. And he kept them private. It was the space to put his thoughts through words or pictures or drawings. Being shy, he did not want the others to know what he thinks. But one fine day he exposed them, and wierdly for no specific reason.

Like many other interests, after a few days, he just stopped writing Blogs. This was again for no specific reason. Probably he concentrated his free time on some of his other interests like music, cinema, books and stocks.

Early 2010, he started writing Blogs again. This time very aggressively. Yet again, it was for no specific reason. He was encouraged by friends in this venture. As the year comes to close, he is celebrating his double century of blog entries in a year. Uff...nice feeling.

Error

Image source - Wikimedia

Eshwar was very happy after the exams. It was easy and he was sure to get 90% in all subjects. It was a result of his efforts during the entire year. His parents would get him a new bike if he cracked 90%. This was the bonus and probably the carrot thrown at him. 90% would also mean that he could get a seat in the top class college of the city.

The result day had finally come. Eshwar went to the school with all his friends. He collected the score-card from the teacher. Everything was as expected – 90+. But one subject was a disaster. Eshwar had scored 58 out of a maximum of 100 in English. He almost fell on his knees seeing this. He could not first react at this. His hopes of a new bike and a good college were all gone now.

Eshwar walked alone, back to his house. He opened the English question paper and declared to his parents that he had done well in English. “58 is an error…impossible”, he argued. His parents agreed because his other scores were very good.

Eshwar decided to apply for a re-evaluation of his English paper. He hoped that the error in checking would be rectified. After a month, a letter addressed to Eshwar came to his house. He knew that it was a letter from the evaluation team. As he read the letter, he screamed in joy. The error was rectified. His score was now a swap of the digits of 58 – 85.

Fake

Location – Village in the India – Bangladesh border
“This case has 200 thousand. 15 hundred worth genuine ones. All others fake. Printed in Pak. Specialized printing.  Commission is as usual. No negotiation. Kaka will deal this. Take it to Kolkata. Shipment in cow’s stomach! “
“ok! See you later.”

Location – Kolkata’s small butcher yard
 “Kaka’s stuff has arrived. 20 cows and 200 thousand in it. I want all tonight. 11 pm. Get it to Dadu’s store.”
“ok!”

Location – Kolkata’s Dadu store
“Counting is done sir. Master class print. Can’t trace. Pak guys are best in business.”
“ok, what next?”
“Dadu, shipment will go to Haryana’s Jiten bhai, Mumbai’s Karim babu, Hyderabad’s Kumar Khallu. All equal distribution.”
“Who takes it to them?”
“All experts. In train. Naresh, Usmaan & Govinda.”
“Commission?”
“8%?”
“ok”

Location – Mumbai – Karim Babu’s garage
“Karim saab, 65 thousand here. All Pak made. No error. New serial number. Special print. Dadu’s guarantee. “
 “Ok! Circulation will start today. South India full circulation. “
“Commission ?”
“Going in vacation to South India. After coming back will pay Dadu directly.”
“Ok, Karim saab” .

Location – Hampi – Tourist destination in South India
“Karim uncle, please get me that toy. “
“ok!”
Turning to the seller - “ What’s price? “
“100 Rs sir. “
“Give me 5 pieces. “ Hands over a 500 Rs note.
“Thanks sir! I Krishna. Me doing export business of toys. Any orders let me know. ”

Location – Hampi – Krishna’s garden
“Raghu, here is your monthly pay”
“Krishna sir, why 500 Rs note? Give change sir”
“No change, go to Bank for change!”
“Ok sir”

Location – Hampi – Bank of Bharat
“Sir, can I get change for 500Rs?”
“Yes Raghu, who gave you 500?”
“Monthly salary sir”
“This is fake note. Police can arrest you for this. Do not use this note”
“Sir, that’s the only money I have for month.”
“I don’t know Raghu. You can’t use this fake note. Fake notes cannot be used. You will be arrested. I will cut this note and burn it. ”
“Sir, no money for a month”

Bank official tore the note and marked the pieces as fake with marker pen.

Gift

Gowri opened the wrappers of the gifts. She was amazed at the huge collection of the dining sets and clocks that she had received for her wedding. If used, there would be clocks on all walls and tables. The couple could also eat in a new set of plates for an year. They decided to use it in a novel way!

It was Gautham's and Girija's day. Their wedding was a celebration. As they opened their gifts, one of them caught special attention of Gautham. It was the special clock he had bought from Germany, for Gowri's wedding. He looked at the message on the wrapper - "wishing you a happy married life - Gowri".

Goutham and Girija had a nice laugh, so did Gowri and her husband.

Hostel to Hospital

Hari was the super-boy of the hostel. He was the problem solver in the boys hostel of the college. Be it a light switch that was not working or the notice board announcements, the contact person was always Hari.

The hostel hosted 300 students in 4 floors. Hari was not among the students but was the boy who took care of the logistics in the hostel. Every student knew Hari and Hari knew each of them by name within a week of they joining the hostel.

Hostel day was nearing. This was the peak time for Hari's work. He was responsible for decoration, food, event management etc. Just before the D day, Hari was arranging the decoration lights for the hostel building from the terrace. He slipped and fell, right from top and crashed on the ground below.

Students gathered to see a bleeding but breathing Hari. There was no ambulance in the institution and the nearest hospital was 5kms away. After around 15 mins of waiting, students took over. An entourage of bikes started from the hostel. On one of them, there were 3 people, including a bleeding Hari. On the way to the hospital, Hari breathed his last.

Students approached the institution to set up a health complex within the hostel campus. The institution obliged. A small first aid center with a doctor was set up. A 24/7 ambulance was also introduced. They named it Hari ambulance service. "Even in death, a good man serves society", the students thought.

PS - This is based on a true incident in a college. A tribute to a friend of mine.

Intelligence

Amma*: its ok putta, just for one day
Putta: no amma, I cannot be without underwear.
Amma: tomorrow you can wear..see its raining, your underwear has not dried.
Putta: I will wear the black one.
Amma: its not dry putta. I got only 2 to uncle's house and both are wet. And you are 3 yrs old. Its ok not to wear underwear.
Putta: then I will not take bath.
Amma: ok, I will put your underwear on the boiler**. It will dry because of the heat caused by water heating.
Putta: ok.

After sometime...
Amma: what happened to the underwear on the boiler?
Putta: its inside the boiler.
Amma: who put it inside?
Putta: me. Uncle told me that its very hot inside the boiler. So the underwear will dry faster.

Though Amma scolded Putta for this. As an afterthought she appreciated 3 yrs old Putta's intelligence.

*Amma - mother is referred to as Amma in Kannada language.
**Boiler - its a closed water container, with a lid at the top(acting as the input) and a tap at the bottom(acting as the output). It has an electrical coil to heat the water inside.

Juxtaposition

"Juxtaposition - an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast.", wrote the teacher on board. She added that this is the theme for next assignment.

Little Akshar noted it down. The next period was library visit. He read the newspapers of the week. This was his regular habit during his weekly library period. At the end of this visit, his assignment was complete.

Akshar pasted the picture of an Indian politician, hoisting the Indian national flag.
Below the picture, Akshar wrote
"Our national flag is a symbol of national sentiments. The green represents prosperity. The white represents peace. Saffron shows courage. The wheel at the center indicates progress. This flag is being hoisted by a politician whose values are exactly the opposite. He sold all the forests for exporting precious trees, removing the greenery. He is a rowdy with several cases against him with police for blowing peace away. His displays all his courage in being stubbornly corrupt and in mercilessly supporting blood bath. He also sees the wheel as currency coins and makes money for himself. This is a perfect example of juxtaposition."

Key

Image source

"Key to success" - Kitty wondered at the location of the book. He got into flash back mode immediately.

Kitty's clear key to success was money. He wanted mansions, cars and hi-style living status. This was his definition of success. For all this money was the key. He used his official power and status to give contracts to ineligible candidates at a cost. Made a land bank for himself in a posh locality of the city. For sometime he enjoyed the fruits of his success mantra.

Time started moving slowly and even went in reverse. Sleuths investigated into his assets and the asset making mechanism.

Flash back was cut short by the voice on the speaker. Free time was over. Kitty walked back from library to his cell, as he heard the key jam the prison lock behind him.