Give respect and take respect

A harsher form of the blog title would be “an eye for an eye”. Age old statement. But kind of relevant today. Probably Muralitharan brought this statement back to limelight. Thanks again to the media.

A debate has again started brewing, about Murali’s ability to bowl (some say chuck) and is Murali the greatest bowler ever. Started off by the TV interviews of Muralitharan after he announced his retirement from test cricket. 

Bishan Singh Bedi had gone ballistic calling Murali a chucker. Bedi added that if ICC had not bent the rules, Murali would not have achieved, what he has. Bedi has been a crictic of Murali since long. He had called Murali a cheat, a javelin thrower, a shot putter etc. Back in 2007, Murali had also filed a $9 million legal suit against Bedi, against Bedi’s constant insults meted upon Murali.

Controversy seems to be Bedi’s second name. Even during his days as a player, Bedi was controversial. After his retirement, Bedi’s magical fingers and shoulders stopped and his mouth started playing. The entire Indian team took a caning when Bedi (the then Indian coach) asked them to jump off the plane into the ocean. He also said Ganguly does not deserve a place in Indian squad. Part of the media and some players came out openly against the controversial Sardar, then. Not to forget - Ganguly’s bat told Bedi - why he is probably the best left hand batsman India has produced.

Yesterday’s comments on Bedi from Murali are shocking. Shocking not because of the words used. Shocking because it came from a mild mannered Muralitharan. To be fair, Bedi got what he deserved. If you do not respect, don’t expect it back.
The SriLankan strategically tried to hit 2 birds with one stone. “Bedi does not belong to the class of Prasanna, Chandra and Venkatraghavan. Bedi is an ordinary spinner.” Murali isolated Bedi from the others in the group.
Though the entire retired spin fraternity of India replied back against the world record holder, the statements have raised a debate within the famous spin attack of India. Who is better? Prasanna, Chandra, Bedi, Venkat, Maninder, Kumble, Raju?
If number of wickets is the yardstick – Kumble, Bedi are the top 2 (among the listed above). But then if the same yardstick is used, Murali is the best.

Harsha Bhogle once said not all famous\good cricketers can be good commentators. Bedi could be on his mind then. Will Murali also join this group of great cricketers and bad commentators? 

There’s a clear lesson from the debate – In public life, expect no mercy from anybody.

Do we care for ... ?

  
I have had my lucky pyjamas, shirts, shoes…even under-wears. A lot of people in my college hostel too had their lucky ones. 

I used the same shirt and pant to my semester exams and internals (for the last 4 sems).  I wore the same shirt on my first day to work. 30% of the hostel used 1 pair of  shoes, 1 tie and 3 shirts for their campus interviews.  Because it was lucky!
Not many cared about the shoes or shirts after they got the jobs. But there was a guy who really cared for it and borrowed the shirt from the owner. Permanently.

After joining job, there has been no lucky shirt for me. (That does not mean that I ran out of luck.) But I still have something like favorite shirt or trouser. I think most of us have a favorite dress. (It’s another thesis topic about how and why a dress becomes a favorite dress.) 

What happens when the lucky dress or favorite dress dies?
Hardly there’s any feeling for some. Some are heartbroken. And there are who feel bad but get along with life. This was my state when my lucky shirt and pant died. I don’t remember the way these clothes vanished. Did not feel so bad about it. But why? Is it because clothes are non-living things? Clothes don’t respond to your feelings and hence you don’t get that personal touch? Or …?
Some questions will never get answers…That’s when you call it a “Good question”.

PS – Got this question after my previous blog “Bye-For the last time”. From the comments of the blog , I realized that some people could not just take the ending. Some were left fuming at the end. One comment also said that it should have been 3 yr old daughter. Oh!

Accident ?

It was complete darkness. Ranganna knew that his time had come. Time to join his dead father and GOD. "What did I do to get this death?" he thought.

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

It was the year of drought. Yet another year. People dying of hunger and thirst were common. Children had no energy left to cry. Cows had stopped giving milk. Men sat on their acres of barren land looking at the blue sky and blazing sky. Women scraped the almost empty vessels to prepare the alternate day meal. The 30 families of the village were deciding to leave the village and go to the city for job and food. Ranganna waited for his death. He never thought of leaving his ancestral home and go to the city. His faithful wife never disagreed with her husband.

Anil Reddy came to the village with his set of cars and followers. Trucks followed. He arranged for food. He gave the villagers new clothes. He arranged for water. Water to drink and bathe. Every villager was happy. Villagers were blinded by the treatment they got from their elected leader.

Then the leader made an offer, which none could resist. "I give each family 25000 Rs per month. I will give you a home in a nearby town. A home bigger than your current ones. The town has schools, hospitals, play grounds and water. You can work and earn more. I will pay 2 months pay in advance." Everybody nodded. Excited. They felt they were in dreamland. "You will still own this land. I will ensure that this land is given back to you whenever you want it back." With this said, his followers started giving Rs 50000 to each family.

Ranganna was hesitant. He asked "what happens to my home here?" "Your homes will be intact." answered the leader. The money was too tempting. Ranganna finally accepted it.

Next day, the entire village boarded trucks with their belongings. They traveled 30 kms to their new home. Anil Reddy came to their home complex and wished them good luck. "Welcome to a new home and a new life. Your children will have a bright future" he said. "Your 25000 will come to your bank account every month. My boys will come to each of you and help you in opening bank account. Do not forget to vote for me in the next elections." he said and left. His followers were well prepared. They got the thumb impressions of villagers in various papers. Ranganna suspected Anil's intentions. Though an illiterate, he asked "Why so many papers? And not all have bank symbol." "Don't worry. Anil Reddy will show that you have been given 25000 from the drought relief fund. These papers are for that." Ranganna agreed.

Anil Reddy's joys knew no bounds, as he saw those papers. He was now ready to extract the wealth from the land.

The villagers settled for the cozy life style of their new homes. Free money came to them every month in their bank accounts.

Ranganna saw large trucks moving towards the village. Some nights Ranganna heard loud explosions. One day he asked the bank officials about the trucks. The official told him about the coal mine in some of the villages near by. When Anil Reddy came to their homes, Ranganna asked if their village had coal mines and were their homes still intact. Anil Readdy replied "Yes, you are all the owners of the coal mines. The profit from the mines are given to you. Your land was useless for agriculture. Now because of mines you are earning a lot. Your homes are intact." Ranganna did not believe his luck. He was the owner of a mine. He had never dreamt it. He knew that the land was not good for agriculture after successive years of drought. Ranganna thought that Anil Reddy had saved the entire village. Little did he realize that his leader was minting money and throwing peanuts at Ranganna.

Anil Reddy's luck ran out. Opponents caught the wealth accumulation technique of Anil Reddy. They planned a sting operation through a media agency to know about the mines. Ranganna revealed everything that Anil Reddy had done to the villagers in the sting operation.

Anil Reddy came to know of the sting operation conducted through his trusted aides in the media. He quickly hatched a plan.

Anil Reddy went to the home complex. Informed the villagers that they can all visit their homes in the village. He arranged of the trucks to take them. They were the same empty trucks that carried coal back. As the villagers entered their village, they were in for a shock. Some of their homes were broken down and what remained was to fall anytime.  Ranganna's home was now the mining company workers rest area.The area was completely black.

Anil Reddy insisted that they all go on a mine trip and see how it looks like inside a mine. As the villagers entered the mine, they heard a loud explosion.

It was complete darkness. Ranganna knew that his time had come. Time to join his dead father and GOD. "What did I do to get this death?" he thought. His arms and legs were probably thrown off. His head seemed to break fast. Breathing became tough. And he died.

Epilogue -

Next day newspaper

Mine accidents claims 80 lives. Anil Reddy deeply mourns the death of the mine owners and workers. "Its a tragic day in the history of the taluk. As a mark of respect, I will build a 'Mine owners smarakh' in their home complex."

Media dropped the sting operation, as the person who spoke on the camera was no longer alive and there was no evidence against Anil Reddy.

Anil Reddy's agents bought the mines and continued to run the show.

Disclaimer

All characters are fictional. Any resemblance to any real character is just co-incidence.

Bye...For the last time!

It is hard to say “bye”. Even harder, when you know that it’s the last time you would say that. But I have to.

It is a long association we had. (Or should I say - it WAS a long association!) We met in the busy bazaar street of South Bangalore.  I liked her. Kind of love at first sight. Got her home. For a change, she was universally accepted at home! (There were some minor comments about her dark color.) She was with me since that day.

I remember those evening walks in the park. She made me feel comfortable after those tight day schedules. She gave me the freedom put my hands on her. And a new friendship started.

Pleasure knew no bounds when I started running with her in the cold mornings. I grew fond of her, for her company. I am more than thankful to her for accompanying me to the marathon, cyclothon and Duathlon. The journey was less strenuous and less stressful because of her.

Our friendship just grew leaps and bounds in the bed. Pleasant are those feelings when she was on me. I still feel bad for those hot summer nights when I kept her away from me. I know that she is too good and would understand me correctly. Never did she express any unhappiness or disappointments.

Cricket is a dusty game. Especially in the grounds and road I play. Tirelessly she stood, watched me play the game despite the Sun, dust and even rain. Her tireless encouragement will be remembered for days to come.

After all this, still I decided to say bye to her. Yes, it was I who decided it. But it was because of her.
Her last days had been fragile. She could not stretch herself.  Age had taken toll on her. Her beauty had faded. I refused to have her with me. Shameful, I thought. Finally, as I gave her the last wash, her body opened up. Tearing her apart.
That’s it. That was the last. I said bye to my dear 3 yr old, black pyjama.

Answers - FIFA World cup 2010 quiz

Here are the answers for the World cup 2010 quiz posted earlier in my blog.

Q1 –
It’s the logo of Merlin Entertainments Group. This group is the owner of the Sea Life Center of Oberhausen which is the host to the octopus - Paul.

Q2 –
Before the tournament had even started, the Vuvuzelas already had a nickname in Germany.
"Uweseela", named after former German international Uwe Seeler.
Seeler reached the final of the World Cup in 1966 with Germany.

Q3 -
These are the only 2 "own" goal scorers of this world cup.
Danish, Daniel Agger scored for the Dutch in Denmark’s 2-0 loss.
South Korean, Park Chu Young scored for Argentina in Korea's 4-1 loss.

Q4 –
They are the Palacios brothers. First time 3 brothers played in the same world cup and for same country – Honduras.
Wilson PALACIOS,Jerry PALACIOS,Jhony PALACIOS

Q5 –
It’s K’naan – the composer of the “Waving flag” – Coke’s anthem for worldcup.
Listen to the original song..Very inspirational. The song can be the story for a movie.

Q6 -
It is the late Dani Jarque.
Immortalised by Iniesta in the finals of WC2010 by the Tshirt caption - "Dani Jarque siempre con nosotros" (which means "Dani Jarque always with us")

FIFA World cup 2010 quiz

The world cup is over. Did you watch it well?
After the pre-world cup quiz, here is a quiz on this edition of FIFA world cup.

Q1 – What’s the connection to FIFA world cup 2010?

Q2 - Explain the connection

Q3 - What is their claim to fame?

Q4 - Who and what record did they make?

Q5 - Identify this guy

Q6 - Who and Why is he in this World cup quiz?

SMS joke

Got this joke from a friend via a SMS.

Laughed a lot and could not resist sharing.

A guy sent his Engineering entrance exam rank to his friend via an SMS.
He received a reply back - "Hey, when did you get this new Airtel mobile number?"

Isn't this heights of insult?

Probably this is my shortest blog.

A letter to Mr. Qureshi

Dear Mr Qureshi,

First of all thanks for hosting an Indian delegation for “talks” in Islamabad. You have done a great job as a “host”. The “guests” are very happy with your treatment!

Coming to the serious issues that have marred the bilateral talks - In strongly worded statements you have hit out at India and the Indian delegation headed by the foreign minister, SM Krishna.
The media on both sides (India and Pak) is gung-ho over your statements. You seem to have created a new debate topic for the news hungry media. When it comes to Indo-Pak topics, the debates are intellectual in nature. But by your “cheap” comments, you have tried to bring down Ind-Pak debates to a street quarrel.

Sometime back, I read a research paper on “Fear psychology”. I do not remember the author, but still remember the details.  The paper said - “Fear” kills the “reason” side of the brain. “Fear” ignites the “instinct” side of the brain. And “instinct” without “reason” more often leads to “blunders”.  This is the reason why people die in fire and stampedes. “Instinctively” people run from inside the building (which has caught fire). “Reasoning” would suggest that you need to crawl towards the exit, because smoke goes higher. People die more of suffocation than burn injuries.

Looks like, you said what you said because of the “Fear” you are in. The “Fear” of the ISI. The “Fear” of the Pak army. The “Fear” of being ‘taken off’. The “fear” of the terrorist groups within Pakistan. And most of all, the “Fear” of ‘Facts’. You are after all a human. And these fears have killed your “Reasoning”.

The entire world knows how notorious is the ISI and how powerful is the Pak army within Pak. Recently the USA and India got hard evidences through Headley that ISI was arm in glove in the 26/11 attack on Mumbai. It’s no secret that ISI and the army control your Govt and your policies  (FYI…in most other countries, the Govt controls their army and intelligent agencies). It’s also no secret that even today your army considers India as their enemy No.1 (though its more than obvious the enemy No1 is within Pak). The Pak army did invade into Kargil and the then Pak PM had no bloody clue of this! Later the army chief becomes the head of state. That’s the power of your army. Every minister of Pak including you fear them. Isn’t it?

You grew puppies which have grown into monsters called Terror Orgs. The puppies were supposed to bite Indians. But now that you allowed them grow into monsters, they need more food. They are feeding on common men and women of Pakistan. You have no control over them. Not even to save your fellow citizens.  Poor you! And it’s too hard for you to digest the fact that this is known to the entire world. Especially when an Indian tells this, it hurts most.  And when the US tells this, you fear most. And when your own media whips you on this….You run out of any reasoning.

Look at what your newspapers during the talks. Facts. Facts that your govt is incapable of handling the internal crisis. Fact that you cannot handle India well. Fact that you did not have your side of agenda for the talks. Fact that you did not talk Pak side. And the fact that you are not the person who should represent Pak in Indo-Pak talks.

So to counter all these “Fears”, you chose the easy route. BLAME INDIA. Bravo. Not even cared to do it with dignity. Phone calls, ill-prepared, time-bound talks…Dint you get better reasons? I am sure your experience would tell you that you goofed up. And big time. I am sure, you will regret this, probably in your auto-biography.

Come on Mr. Qureshi, Krishna wants a better and fearless counterpart.

Best Wishes,
Common Indian

Advice for Writers

An eminent writer was in office yesterday. She was here to talk about writing and also for an official ceremony.

This was my first face to face meeting with a writer of such high caliber. Born in a small city of Karnataka, this English writer has won a Sahithya Academy award for her work. Here I present some of her thoughts on writing. Her thoughts really make sense, especially for all the aspiring authors.

Read a lot and then write

Unless you read, you do not know what is good writing and what is not. You may also improve your hold on the language.

Writing in “non-mother tongue” language

This is a common problem for most Indian English writers. Our thought process is not in English. And our writings may have characters speaking different languages. For example there could be a Kannada aunty, a Tamil neighbor etc in your work. She suggests that the writing should reflect their culture and character but not their English.

Readers should work

Writers would have worked hard to bring up their work. The readers also have to work (at times) to appreciate the work. She suggests that Indian writers should not translate to please western audience. A masala dosa is a masala dosa..It is not pan cake. An idli is not rice cake. Mango thoran is mango thoran. Mostly readers can understand these desi terms in the context of the novel. But they can also research a bit (on google, bing etc) to find more. The desi taste should not be killed to please western audience.

Don’t buy books based on author’s reputation or sales figures ONLY

Not all best sellers are good. And not all works of famous authors are good. She suggests that we walk beyond the bestselling racks in a bookstore. Some of the good books are not best sellers. Randomly read a few pages before buying a book.

Quantity may lead to quality

Asked about her views on the new age Indian authors flooding the book market, she said that some are good and some may not be. But quantity will also bring in quality because the reader is no longer accepting bad ones. But failure should not hinder your writing.

Negative remarks

Like a flood of writers, there are a flood of critics now. And it is obvious that negative comments on your work would come up. It hurts when somebody rips apart a novel in public domain. For a writer, his\her writing is like a baby. And nobody likes if their baby is taken to task. BUT do take it sportingly. And learn to ignore the “bad” bad reviews. When you are in public domain, it’s natural to get hit. Learn to take it in your stride. (I reviewed a Kannada novel in my previous blog)

Writing is a hobby?

People consider that writing is a hobby of the writer. But no serious writer takes writing as hobby. The writer dedicates time, puts in lots of efforts in making the novel. So writing is just not a “free time” time-pass activity. But remember that “Reading” is a hobby. When writing keep the hobby reader in mind.

Kavalu (ಕವಲು) - Book Review

The new Kannada novel is about sex and feminism – it’s pros and cons, in various cultures, at various stages of life. Without actually describing the act, Bhyrappa tries to dissect the concept of sex and its affect on one’s life in the backdrop of the feminist feelings.

The novel starts off in a police station, with the arrest of an industrialist. A few chapters are spent on the description and background of the characters. 

Two stories run in parallel.
 

The first story is of an industrialist, his dead wife, his mentally challenged daughter, his extra marital affairs, his second wife, her affairs, her feminist feelings and her son.

The second story is about a teacher in university, her feminist feelings, her affairs, her husband, her husband’s lifestyle, their separation and their daughter.

The first story is weaved with a thread called sex . The crux of the story - How a casual sex with a co-worker can turn the life on its head? And how the sex starved couple resort to other means and its effects.

The second story is weaved with a thread called feminism. Crux of this story – The efforts of a lady who wants to survive alone, breaking the net called “family”. Suspicions, legal hassles add to the additional glamour of the story.

Though the characters of the stories meet, the stories never. The work could have been split easily into 2 books.

The author brings in a small story about the western culture family setup (live-in, pre-nuptial agreements) basically to highlight the pitfalls of that culture.

The book starts off slowly and picks pace in the last 120 pages. After the boring start, many characters enter, to increase the tempo.

The legal aspects of divorce, domestic violence are the interesting portions in the book.

Known for his strong views in his earlier works, Bhyrappa tries to provide a balanced view on the women rights without taking any stance here. Reader can’t sympathize with any specific character of the book.  The book is full of Bhyrappa’s trademark language and style of writing.  The author seems to have been in a hurry and leaves many loose threads at the end. 

I do not want to become a spoiler by revealing more about the storyline in the book.

Simply putting – “Kavalu (ಕವಲು)” is not worth the hype created and not worth the name - SL Bhyrappa (ಸಂತೇಶಿವರ ಲಿಂಗಣ್ಣಯ್ಯ ಭೈರಪ್ಪ). The story line could be the material for movie - "Sex and Dhoka".
Overall a disappointing Kannada novel.

Just Dial 69999999

Before going further, do what I mentioned in the title of the blog.

Probably you will heard a voice before it rings!
“This is ABC. How can I help you?”
Now what did you talk?

Continue reading.

You just called the "Just Dial" service.
When it started, it was probably Yellow Pages. The name changed and along with it changed the service levels…Positively.
They are the one stop guys for any business contact numbers of the city.

I quote an example of the last weekend.
We decided to go to “24th main” for lunch.
Called “just dial”.
I was greeted “Hi Manjunath, how can I help?” From my mobile number, they already know my name (I had spoken to them earlier and hence my entry exists).
I asked for the telephone number of the restaurant.

Redirection - They asked if  they could connect me to the place. Yes. And they did. In one call, I had booked the table. 

Additional choice – They also asked if they can send a message (& email) with other telephone numbers of other nearby restaurants.

Filter – They asked the price range of the meal I am looking for….100-200, 200-500 so on.
The SMS (and email) was clear –Price range of the restaurant, area of the restaurant, names and their telephone numbers.

And you thought that’s it.

20 min later, I get a call on my mobile from the restaurant “1947”.
“Sir, you were looking for having lunch in restaurant today. We provide good service and quality food…….”
I said “Thanks, it’s taken care off”

For the internet savvy guys, they do have a website www.justdial.com and a wap site - wap.justdial.com . These sites provide the same set of services.

Now that’s called “SERVICE”. Isn’t it?

Recently "Just Dial" became First Indian Company to Win the Red Hat Innovation Award.  

Congrats for this achievement!

PS - I am not a shareholder in this company. I am a regular user of their services.

Wish

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 12; the twelfth 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.

“Tell me a story” Gautham said as he placed his head on his grandma’s lap. “Not the Rama, Sita, Kisna stories, But something about mummy…”

“Chinnu, I will tell you the story of a rakshash. The big one. And how a small chinnu like you, killed him”.

“Dadu, I too can tell you those stories. Tell me a story about mummy”.

She knew what was coming next.

“I won’t sleep with you today. Will you tell me or not?” Gautham lifted his head from Dadu’s lap.

Dadu combed his hair with her hand, thinking about the next move. Trying to change the topic, she said “Chinnu looks like little Kisna. You know kisna was a naughty kid like Chinnu. His hairs, hands were like….”

“Will you tell a story on mummy?...yes or no”

Dadu now knew she could not change the mind of her 8 yr old grandson.

“Ok, I will” she said as he smiled and put his head back on his Dadu’s lap.

“Mummy and Geetha aunty were best friends during childhood. They went to school together. Mummy would go to Geetha’s house every day. From there they would walk to the school. They sat in the same bench at school. They shared their lunch boxes. When I prepared dosas, mummy took an extra lunch box for Geetha aunty. Geetha aunty some days studied with mummy and slept in our house. Both were very intelligent. In exams, mummy would score a few marks more than Geetha. But both would be in the top 2 of the class”.

Just to check if Gautham was still awake, she added “Chinnu, will you too study like mummy and get first rank..She will be very happy”. “Yes, I will study well..Don’t ask questions between a story…You are my dadu and not my teacher” Both laughed together.

Dadu continued. “Mummy always wanted to become an Engineer. In her free time, she would run to the construction site of the Hoysala dam. Watching the big cranes lifting the stones, was her fascination turning to reality. Geetha also went along with her. But Geetha was never attracted to those cranes. Geetha always wanted to become a teacher. A teacher in the village school.“

After finishing 10th class, mummy decided to go to the city for education. The college in the village was not good. At least not good to make her an Engineer. She struggled all alone in the city hostel. Then she joined the big Engineering college of the city. She was rank 1 there also. She became an Engineer there.”

“Chinnu, Will you become an Engineer like mummy?”

This time there was no reply. But Dadu saw that Gautham was still awake and listening. Without questioning further, she was about to continue, when Chinnu interrupted.

“What did Geetha aunty do after 10th class?”

“She stayed back in the village. She studied in the college here. And she became a teacher. Does she teach Maths for you?”

“Yes Dadu. She also teaches moral science and drawing.”

Dadu continued “Mummy got a good job in a computer company. She earned a lot of money. She came in car to the village. She was the first lady of the village to fly to a foreign land. The entire village was proud of her. She met father in the city and married him. It was a grand function. The entire village was present to see the wedding. I was very happy. After 2 years, Chinnu was born.”

“What is the moral of the story, dadu?”

Dadu was not prepared for this question. Nor was it the end of the story she wanted to tell. But quickly she said “Hard work will always fetch you very good results. Mummy worked very hard and so she is so rich and intelligent today.”

“Dadu, in yesterday’s story Sita WISHED for the golden deer and because of this Rama had to fight 10 headed Ravana. Papa Rama!”

“Hmm! “ Dadu was surprised by this.

“In another story, Bheema, Arjuna WISHED to become kings and because of this they killed their uncles and brothers.”

This time Dadu just nodded. She had no words to speak. Gautham did not expect a reply. Nor was he seeing Dadu’s nod.

“In both stories you said, the good won, Bad lost. You said Ravana was bad. You said Arjuna was good.”

Dadu wondered “Where is Chinnu heading?”

“See Rohith. Geetha aunty holds his hand and brings him to school every day. She teaches Rohith in the night. He can sleep on his mummy’s lap every day. Mummy WISHED to become an Engineer and because of that she left me with you here in the village and she is in city and foreign tour always.”

He stopped there. Without speaking another word, he got up and walked towards the bathroom.

Dadu was stunned. Unable to react.

She was about to follow Chinnu but thought it was for his regular pre-sleep pee.

Dadu noticed that his eyes were moist when he came back. Gautham slept without speaking a word.

As Dadu slept next to Gautham, his words sunk in.

“Is destiny controlled by WISH? Even the destiny of others are controlled by somebody’s WISH” she thought.

But could not sleep that night.

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.

Back to Stone age

Photo by Fayaz Kabli/Reuters

Kashmir is again in news. Sadly for all the wrong reasons.
Civilians got killed in a clash. Army has been brought in to control the situation. Curfews in place.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the violence it started off with the death of a 13 yr old kid. The post mortem indicated that the kid died of a tear gas,used by the armed forces. Angry civilians reacted strongly. The streets turned into battlefields.
A battle between the men with Guns and the unarmed. David and Goliath?   Not exactly.
The unarmed were not actually unarmed.  They dint have weapons of mass destruction. Not any kind of sophisticated weapons. But they are armed with weapons of the stone age. Stones. Yes, just stones.

The gunmen seemed to have no experience in tackling this weapon. How would they? They never worked in Israel, facing the Palestine stones. Probably it was their first experience.

Stones are very powerful weapons. it’s impact is very underestimated.

• They are free of cost. If you can’t find it nearby, just dig up the road. You find plenty of them.
• Bullets generally are for a set target. But stones can hit multiple targets and the direction is unpredictable. They can bounce on the wall and strike you back.
• Stones can pierce the bullet proof glass. Surprised? Yes, the sheer weight and the velocity of the thrown stone can break the glass. Even the mesh that protects the police\CRPF vehicles are broken by stones.
• Vehicular movements are impaired. There are tons of stones lying around on the roads and the vehicles can’t speed through them. So the armed can’t enter or escape the area in vehicles. It’s like a blockade.
• Stones mostly injure a person and very rarely kill a person. This is a double whammy for the stone throwers. First, they can’t be charged for murder. Secondly, one injury means a couple of more armed men(injured + helper) out of battlefield. 

Now we know why our ancestors used stones as weapons.
Whatever it is…I hope that peace returns to this beautiful valley called Kashmir.

What was missing in this world cup?

Many of us missed the goals from Rooney, Messi, Ronaldo, Kaka. Media has starting writing about the curse of Number 10. But these are part of the actual football on field activities.

Off the field there are many things that catch main news space during the world cup. Some common ones which did not make news in this edition of FIFA world cup –

• Crazy hair styles of players
• Big discount sales on electronics in India
• Naked fan invasion to the ground
• English fans hooliganism
• Special delicacies based on the theme of world cup

• Messi mixture
• Lipi lolly
• Robben roti
• Villa vada
• Forlan faluda
• Puyol Palav

And

• Paul payasam

But the missing things were compensated by -

• Haunting music of Vuvuzela (did you realize that the logo of this world cup has vuvuzela in it?)
• Octopus predictions
• French revolution against their coach
• Debate on use of Technology
• The Jabulani ball

Caught in a wrong place?

Chapter 1

I was having pizza with a set of friends.
The son of my dad’s friend arrives at the same place with his group of friends. Our eyes meet. We seem to recognize each other. Before a smile escapes, he turns away.
I went home and told my dad about this incident. Dad said “theirs is an orthodox family. They don’t even cook onion at home.  He won’t come to pizza joint where non-veg is served”.

I thought I was wrong. It may be another person.
But if it was really him, did he try to hide from me?
Probably he thought I would tell my dad about this. And my dad would tell his dad. And he was caught in a wrong place?

Chapter 2

It was a chat shop. The ones where Pani-puri, bhel puri etc is made. I was having one of such puris. He was there. We recognized each other. But he ignored me completely.
I was sure it was him. He was the local temple priest. I have seen him many times in the temple. He wishes me at the temple. He was the one who performed pooja for my car. He is a regular priest at my neighbor. But why did he ignore me.

Traditional priests are not supposed to eat onions and also eat in places like chat centers.
Probably he thought I would tell my neighbor about this. And my neighbor would tell the temple authorities. And he was caught in a wrong place?

I almost forgot - Congrats!

I almost forgot again.

But just almost! 

What's important is that I did not forget. 

Rather I noticed it in time. Just in Time!

I wouldn't say it's exceptional. 

But it exceeds my own initial expectations.

Girish Bharadwaj - Again!

I had blogged about the great person called Girish Bharadwaj a long time ago. Infact it was my second blog.
Today Vijaya Karnataka newspaper has carried an article about this person.

His feats are superb.

In remote villages of South India, this Engineer has built 93 hanging bridges to help the rural folks. The bridges are of varied lengths. Right from 20 mts to 220 mts in length. The bridges can be used to walk or take 2 wheelers.

His fame and intelligence has been used by states like Kerala and Andra Pradesh apart from his home state of Karnataka. The malnad and coastal region of Karnataka have benefitted from his work.

Great going Mr Girish! Waiting for a century of bridges from you. 

Links -
Vijaya Karnataka article on Mr Girish Bharadwaj
My blog on Mr Girish Bharadwaj

Praying Mantis - Caught at my gate

What a pose?	Scared? or Scary?
See me eye to eye	My shadow is bigger
A leaf on my back?	Don't worry, I wont fall!
Thinking!	Ready for the attack
Climbing the gate	Next generation

Watch the entire photo set on my picasa album.