I want to live my next life backwards: >You start out dead and get that out of the way.>Then you wake up in an old age home feeling better every day.>Then you get kicked out for being too healthy.>Enjoy your retirement and collect your pension. >Then when you start work, you buy a mansion on your first day.>You work 40 years until you're too young to work.>You get ready for High School: drink alcohol, party and you're generally>promiscuous. >Then you go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, and you have no>responsibilities.>Then you become a baby, and then...>You spend your last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury, in spa-like>conditions – central heating, room service on tap>>And then... you finish off as an orgasm.>>What a way to go!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
life-the ubiquitous convergence
See our life is like a picture having 2 rail lines , on either sides the 2 rail lines tend to merge into a point, and as we walk further on any of the sides the point moves further too, leaving us trailing behind it at all the times ,back and forth we try going , but hell with it the past and future, it is all but one , life does not change with time , like the 2 points of convergence of the tracks on either sides , we cannot reach the point but we still have to travel along the tracks till infinity, we have to live our lives even if we think we are not gettin the desired end and have not got the wanted start to it .
Saturday, January 19, 2008
freakonomics
crime rate fell not because of good policing, better gun control laws or better job scenario but because abortion was made legal, as the unwanted children were not born.
obstetricians in areas with declining birth rates are much more likely to perform cesarean-section deliveries than obstetricians in growing areas—suggesting that, when business is tough, doctors try to ring up more expensive procedures.
most disease-ridden province in his empire was also the province with the most doctors. His solution? He promptly ordered all the doctors shot dead.
that the amount of money spent on campaign finance is obscenely huge? In a typical election period that includes campaigns for the presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, about $1 billion is spentper year—which sounds like a lot of money, unless you care to measure it against something seemingly less important than democratic elections.It is the same amount, for instance, that citizens spend every year on chewing gum
here they imposd fine for parents coming late to pick their children from a day care centre.But there was another problem with the day-care center fine. It substituted an economicincentive (the $3 penalty) for a moral incentive (the guilt that parents were supposed tofeel when they came late). For just a few dollars each day, parents could buy off theirguilt. Furthermore, the small size of the fine sent a signal to the parents that late pickupsweren’t such a big problem. If the day-care center suffers only $3 worth of pain for eachlate pickup, why bother to cut short the tennis game? Indeed, when the economistseliminated the $3 fine in the seventeenth week of their study, the number of late-arrivingparents didn’t change. Now they could arrive late, pay no fine, and feel no guilt.
economic incentive vs moral incentive :they wanted to learn about the motivation behind blood donations. Their discovery: when people are given a smallstipend for donating blood rather than simply being praised for their altruism, they tend todonate less blood. The stipend turned a noble act of charity into a painful way to make afew dollars, and it wasn’t worth it.What if the blood donors had been offered an incentive of $50, or $500, or $5,000?Surely the number of donors would have changed dramatically.But something else would have changed dramatically as well, for every incentive has itsdark side. If a pint of blood were suddenly worth $5,000, you can be sure that plenty ofpeople would take note. They might literally steal blood at knifepoint. They might pass off pig blood as their own. They might circumvent donation limits by using fake IDs.Whatever the incentive, whatever the situation, dishonest people will try to gain anadvantage by whatever means necessary.
For every clever person who goes to the trouble of creating an incentive scheme, there isan army of people, clever and otherwise, who will inevitably spend even more time tryingto beat it. Cheating may or may not be human nature, but it is certainly a prominentfeature in just about every human endeavor. Cheating is a primordial economic act:getting more for less. So it isn’t just the boldface names—inside-trading CEOs and pillpoppingballplayers and perk-abusing politicians—who cheat. It is the waitress whopockets her tips instead of pooling them. It is the Wal-Mart payroll manager who goesinto the computer and shaves his employees’ hours to make his own performance lookbetter. It is the third grader who, worried about not making it to the fourth grade, copiestest answers from the kid sitting next to him
The incentive scheme that rules sumo is intricate and extraordinarily powerful. Eachwrestler maintains a ranking that affects every slice of his life: how much money hemakes, how large an entourage he carries, how much he gets to eat, sleep, and otherwisetake advantage of his success. The sixty-six highest-ranked wrestlers in Japan,comprising the makuuchi and juryo divisions, make up the sumo elite. A wrestler near thetop of this elite pyramid may earn millions and is treated like royalty. Any wrestler in thetop forty earns at least $170,000 a year. The seventieth-ranked wrestler in Japan,meanwhile, earns only $15,000 a year. Life isn’t very sweet outside the elite. Low-rankedwrestlers must tend to their superiors, preparing their meals and cleaning their quartersand even soaping up their hardest-to-reach body parts. So ranking is everything
Kennedy balked at the various fees, pretending to play hard to get, but agreed to join. Notlong after, he took the Klan oath in a nighttime mass initiation atop Stone Mountain.Kennedy began attending weekly Klan meetings, hurrying home afterward to write notesin a cryptic shorthand he invented. He learned the identities of the Klan’s local andregional leaders and deciphered the Klan’s hierarchy, rituals, and language. It was Klancustom to affix a Kl to many words; thus would two Klansmen hold a Klonversation inthe local Klavern. Many of the customs struck Kennedy as almost laughably childish.The secret Klan handshake, for instance, was a left-handed, limp-wristed fish wiggle.When a traveling Klansman wanted to locate brethren in a strange town, he would ask fora “Mr. Ayak”—“Ayak” being code for “Are You a Klansman?” He would hope to hear,“Yes, and I also know a Mr. Akai”—code for “A Klansman Am I.”
The day that a car is driven off the lot is the worst day in its life, for it instantly loses asmuch as a quarter of its value. This might seem absurd, but we know it to be true. A newcar that was bought for $20,000 cannot be resold for more than perhaps $15,000. Why?Because the only person who might logically want to resell a brand-new car is someonewho found the car to be a lemon. So even if the car isn’t a lemon, a potential buyerassumes that it is. He assumes that the seller has some information about the car that he,the buyer, does not have—and the seller is punished for this assumed information.
Most impressively, fully 70 percent of the women claimed “above average” looks,including 24 percent claiming “very good looks.” The online men too were gorgeous: 67percent called themselves “above average,” including 21 percent with “very good looks.”This leaves only about 30 percent of the users with “average” looks, including a paltry 1percent with “less than average” looks—which suggests that the typical online dater iseither a fabulist, a narcissist, or simply resistant to the meaning of “average.” (Or perhapsthey are all just realists: as any real-estate agent knows, the typical house isn’t“charming” or “fantastic,” but unless you say it is, no one will even bother to take alook.) Twenty-eight percent of the women on the site said they were blond, a number farbeyond the national average, which indicates a lot of dyeing, or lying, or both.
The richer a man is, the more e-mails he receives. But a woman’sincome appeal is a bell-shaped curve: men do not want to date low-earning women, butonce a woman starts earning too much, they seem to be scared off. Men want to datestudents, artists, musicians, veterinarians, and celebrities (while avoiding secretaries,retirees, and women in the military and law enforcement). Women do want to datemilitary men, policemen, and firemen (possibly the result of a 9/11 Effect, like the higherpayments to Paul Feldman’s bagel business), along with lawyers and financialexecutives. Women avoid laborers, actors, students, and men who work in food servicesor hospitality. For men, being short is a big disadvantage (which is probably why somany lie about it), but weight doesn’t much matter. For women, being overweight isdeadly (which is probably why they lie). For a man, having red hair or curly hair is adowner, as is baldness—but a shaved head is okay. For a woman, salt-and-pepper hair isbad, while blond hair is very good. In the world of online dating, a headful of blond hairon a woman is worth about the same as having a college degree—and, with a $100 dyejob versus a $100,000 tuition bill, an awful lot cheaper.
obstetricians in areas with declining birth rates are much more likely to perform cesarean-section deliveries than obstetricians in growing areas—suggesting that, when business is tough, doctors try to ring up more expensive procedures.
most disease-ridden province in his empire was also the province with the most doctors. His solution? He promptly ordered all the doctors shot dead.
that the amount of money spent on campaign finance is obscenely huge? In a typical election period that includes campaigns for the presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, about $1 billion is spentper year—which sounds like a lot of money, unless you care to measure it against something seemingly less important than democratic elections.It is the same amount, for instance, that citizens spend every year on chewing gum
here they imposd fine for parents coming late to pick their children from a day care centre.But there was another problem with the day-care center fine. It substituted an economicincentive (the $3 penalty) for a moral incentive (the guilt that parents were supposed tofeel when they came late). For just a few dollars each day, parents could buy off theirguilt. Furthermore, the small size of the fine sent a signal to the parents that late pickupsweren’t such a big problem. If the day-care center suffers only $3 worth of pain for eachlate pickup, why bother to cut short the tennis game? Indeed, when the economistseliminated the $3 fine in the seventeenth week of their study, the number of late-arrivingparents didn’t change. Now they could arrive late, pay no fine, and feel no guilt.
economic incentive vs moral incentive :they wanted to learn about the motivation behind blood donations. Their discovery: when people are given a smallstipend for donating blood rather than simply being praised for their altruism, they tend todonate less blood. The stipend turned a noble act of charity into a painful way to make afew dollars, and it wasn’t worth it.What if the blood donors had been offered an incentive of $50, or $500, or $5,000?Surely the number of donors would have changed dramatically.But something else would have changed dramatically as well, for every incentive has itsdark side. If a pint of blood were suddenly worth $5,000, you can be sure that plenty ofpeople would take note. They might literally steal blood at knifepoint. They might pass off pig blood as their own. They might circumvent donation limits by using fake IDs.Whatever the incentive, whatever the situation, dishonest people will try to gain anadvantage by whatever means necessary.
For every clever person who goes to the trouble of creating an incentive scheme, there isan army of people, clever and otherwise, who will inevitably spend even more time tryingto beat it. Cheating may or may not be human nature, but it is certainly a prominentfeature in just about every human endeavor. Cheating is a primordial economic act:getting more for less. So it isn’t just the boldface names—inside-trading CEOs and pillpoppingballplayers and perk-abusing politicians—who cheat. It is the waitress whopockets her tips instead of pooling them. It is the Wal-Mart payroll manager who goesinto the computer and shaves his employees’ hours to make his own performance lookbetter. It is the third grader who, worried about not making it to the fourth grade, copiestest answers from the kid sitting next to him
The incentive scheme that rules sumo is intricate and extraordinarily powerful. Eachwrestler maintains a ranking that affects every slice of his life: how much money hemakes, how large an entourage he carries, how much he gets to eat, sleep, and otherwisetake advantage of his success. The sixty-six highest-ranked wrestlers in Japan,comprising the makuuchi and juryo divisions, make up the sumo elite. A wrestler near thetop of this elite pyramid may earn millions and is treated like royalty. Any wrestler in thetop forty earns at least $170,000 a year. The seventieth-ranked wrestler in Japan,meanwhile, earns only $15,000 a year. Life isn’t very sweet outside the elite. Low-rankedwrestlers must tend to their superiors, preparing their meals and cleaning their quartersand even soaping up their hardest-to-reach body parts. So ranking is everything
Kennedy balked at the various fees, pretending to play hard to get, but agreed to join. Notlong after, he took the Klan oath in a nighttime mass initiation atop Stone Mountain.Kennedy began attending weekly Klan meetings, hurrying home afterward to write notesin a cryptic shorthand he invented. He learned the identities of the Klan’s local andregional leaders and deciphered the Klan’s hierarchy, rituals, and language. It was Klancustom to affix a Kl to many words; thus would two Klansmen hold a Klonversation inthe local Klavern. Many of the customs struck Kennedy as almost laughably childish.The secret Klan handshake, for instance, was a left-handed, limp-wristed fish wiggle.When a traveling Klansman wanted to locate brethren in a strange town, he would ask fora “Mr. Ayak”—“Ayak” being code for “Are You a Klansman?” He would hope to hear,“Yes, and I also know a Mr. Akai”—code for “A Klansman Am I.”
The day that a car is driven off the lot is the worst day in its life, for it instantly loses asmuch as a quarter of its value. This might seem absurd, but we know it to be true. A newcar that was bought for $20,000 cannot be resold for more than perhaps $15,000. Why?Because the only person who might logically want to resell a brand-new car is someonewho found the car to be a lemon. So even if the car isn’t a lemon, a potential buyerassumes that it is. He assumes that the seller has some information about the car that he,the buyer, does not have—and the seller is punished for this assumed information.
Most impressively, fully 70 percent of the women claimed “above average” looks,including 24 percent claiming “very good looks.” The online men too were gorgeous: 67percent called themselves “above average,” including 21 percent with “very good looks.”This leaves only about 30 percent of the users with “average” looks, including a paltry 1percent with “less than average” looks—which suggests that the typical online dater iseither a fabulist, a narcissist, or simply resistant to the meaning of “average.” (Or perhapsthey are all just realists: as any real-estate agent knows, the typical house isn’t“charming” or “fantastic,” but unless you say it is, no one will even bother to take alook.) Twenty-eight percent of the women on the site said they were blond, a number farbeyond the national average, which indicates a lot of dyeing, or lying, or both.
The richer a man is, the more e-mails he receives. But a woman’sincome appeal is a bell-shaped curve: men do not want to date low-earning women, butonce a woman starts earning too much, they seem to be scared off. Men want to datestudents, artists, musicians, veterinarians, and celebrities (while avoiding secretaries,retirees, and women in the military and law enforcement). Women do want to datemilitary men, policemen, and firemen (possibly the result of a 9/11 Effect, like the higherpayments to Paul Feldman’s bagel business), along with lawyers and financialexecutives. Women avoid laborers, actors, students, and men who work in food servicesor hospitality. For men, being short is a big disadvantage (which is probably why somany lie about it), but weight doesn’t much matter. For women, being overweight isdeadly (which is probably why they lie). For a man, having red hair or curly hair is adowner, as is baldness—but a shaved head is okay. For a woman, salt-and-pepper hair isbad, while blond hair is very good. In the world of online dating, a headful of blond hairon a woman is worth about the same as having a college degree—and, with a $100 dyejob versus a $100,000 tuition bill, an awful lot cheaper.
photoshop pun
Mumbai is quite the melting pot of cultures. Well, it's more of a vast, seething morass of peoples who sometimes, without warning, lean out of a BEST bus and regurgitate well-chewed paan (betel leaf) all over your windshield.
Paan badly stains paint goddamit!
But let me not let personal sentiment cloud this column which is supposed to highlight the cultural diversity of this city and how the various political parties attempt to appease the varied multitudes using only a desktop computer and nifty image processing software.
Mumbai has more hoardings per square foot than any other city I have seen in the world. (I have been to four countries you know.) Traditionally, and I am going by instinct here, good hoardings are all about location. Find a place where the ideal consumer gathers in large numbers with enough time to consume your hoarding and you have an ideal spot to erect your publicity signage.
The average person tends to spend vast amounts of time in Mumbai doing nothing. Mostly because you're waiting for something to happen -- your train to start, the signal to turn green, the cop to wave you ahead, the guy at the ATM to finish his withdrawal, the cheque for the column to come.
And these inordinate amounts of waiting tend to make the entire city a healthy breeding ground for thousands upon thousands of hoardings. Most traffic signals abound with them. Yes, there is the occasionally amusing one, of course. The always inventive and amusing Amul hoarding is one that is anticipated eagerly on a weekly basis. Yet, for each one of those, there are a thousand banal ones for television serials.
The TV serials ones sprout up like mushrooms suddenly, when a show is scheduled by some channel, and then bizarrely use the English alphabet to blare out Hindi taglines.
"Ek TV serial, jaisa aap ne kabhi na dekha ho! Kyunki isme Ronit Roy nahi hai!" (A TV serial like no other! One that doesn't star Ronit Roy!)
But of late I have begun to notice a new class of hoardings that brings together the best of political opportunism and the many benefits of information technology.
Like I said, Mumbai is quite the mixed vegetable curry of cultures. Therefore, appeasing and addressing the various cultural and sub-cultural constituents of the city is essential for any political party. Or at least for those that intend to play a role in political proceedings. (The Freelancers Party for Free Liquor is prepared to wait for a people's mandate.)
Now, there are two broad ways to go about warming the cockles, if you will, of the many different societal segments of Mumbai. You could actually do something to uplift these folks by building them better roads, better homes and do the sort of thing that our politicians are currently learning how to do by going on international study tours to countries in Scandinavia.
Or you could make it LOOK like you care deeply about them.
And the latest tool in this PR sleight of hand is the Photoshop-ed hoarding.
Adobe Photoshop is a popular piece of software that is used in image manipulation. The exact function of the software is pretty self-evident from the name of the software itself. 'Photo' stands for photograph and 'Shop' stands for the fact that you can do a lot of shopping with the money you save from buying pirate copies of the software from vendors in South Mumbai.
Practitioners use Photoshop to touch-up and make minor edits to photographs or other images you scan and upload. It is extremely versatile and this is particularly evident on matrimonial sites. With just a few clicks a person who otherwise would describe his complexion as 'silhouette' becomes a much more popularly pleasing 'wheatish'.
Yet the most innovative use of Photoshop I have seen in a while is the way the politicians of Mumbai use it to reach out to the sections of society that they have lost touch with over the prevailing years. That portion of the populace I like to call the voting public.
When some form of election is around the corner, the politician sits up and takes notice. Suddenly he remembers that it's been a long time, approximately a term in office, since he was in touch with the voting masses. And then, after spending a few jealous moments contemplating upon President Musharraf and his productive, democratic ways, the politician decides he needs to connect with the people.
He immediately calls for a festivals calendar and an accomplished Photoshop operator.
And then suddenly the creative political hoardings begin to make their appearance.
Each politician in Mumbai has a photo taken of themselves that they have quite the fancy for. It is probably the one in which they look the youngest and most handsome -- when the smile is at its best and the body language is most imperial. A high-resolution of this photo is handed over to the operator.
The operator then sets out to make hoardings.
Just around a Muslim festival the hoardings come out all over Bandra and the Byculla side with each politico wearing an ethnically suitable fur cap. As is the norm, each hoarding will showcase one important individual in large profile and the rest scattered all over the rest of the hoarding. However the fur cap on each one of them is identically placed, slightly tilted to one side.
Come Gandhi Jayanti and the fur caps are replaced with a neat array of crisp white Gandhi caps Photoshop-ed onto the exact same collection of heads. The operator does not apply even a smite of imagination. The most he will do is resize them to fit the heads. And even that is sometimes missed. Leaving some of the local 'samaj sevaks' looking like they bought the cap before shrinking in an intense sauna. Recently, black tilaks were the norm in a show of unity with the pilgrims who thronged the city for Ambedkar Jayanti.
And the poses! Sonia Gandhi [Images] is always seen leaning forward and waving. Sharad Pawar [Images] is normally grinning widely with his chin tucked into his chest. Balasaheb is pausing, pensively, mid-sentence. Raj Thakeray is always pointing expansively towards the left with his back to you.
But whatever their poses, the Photoshop-ing cannot be missed. Sometimes, in a bizarre show of political unity, you sense that the fur cap is the same across party lines and head sizes. Identical to the vertical crease in front. The same Photoshop guy?
Of course, it's all weird political gesturing. Most people can make out the cold, insincerity of it all. They can easily see beyond the thin veil of make-believe and see them politicians for who they are: vile demigods eager to tap into our own social insecurities and win our valuable votes.
To use a popular Malayali metaphor: that dal is not going to cook in our oven sir! We are not going to fall for this ridiculous opportunism. We will make up our minds on our own!
Well, I think so. I hope so.
Paan badly stains paint goddamit!
But let me not let personal sentiment cloud this column which is supposed to highlight the cultural diversity of this city and how the various political parties attempt to appease the varied multitudes using only a desktop computer and nifty image processing software.
Mumbai has more hoardings per square foot than any other city I have seen in the world. (I have been to four countries you know.) Traditionally, and I am going by instinct here, good hoardings are all about location. Find a place where the ideal consumer gathers in large numbers with enough time to consume your hoarding and you have an ideal spot to erect your publicity signage.
The average person tends to spend vast amounts of time in Mumbai doing nothing. Mostly because you're waiting for something to happen -- your train to start, the signal to turn green, the cop to wave you ahead, the guy at the ATM to finish his withdrawal, the cheque for the column to come.
And these inordinate amounts of waiting tend to make the entire city a healthy breeding ground for thousands upon thousands of hoardings. Most traffic signals abound with them. Yes, there is the occasionally amusing one, of course. The always inventive and amusing Amul hoarding is one that is anticipated eagerly on a weekly basis. Yet, for each one of those, there are a thousand banal ones for television serials.
The TV serials ones sprout up like mushrooms suddenly, when a show is scheduled by some channel, and then bizarrely use the English alphabet to blare out Hindi taglines.
"Ek TV serial, jaisa aap ne kabhi na dekha ho! Kyunki isme Ronit Roy nahi hai!" (A TV serial like no other! One that doesn't star Ronit Roy!)
But of late I have begun to notice a new class of hoardings that brings together the best of political opportunism and the many benefits of information technology.
Like I said, Mumbai is quite the mixed vegetable curry of cultures. Therefore, appeasing and addressing the various cultural and sub-cultural constituents of the city is essential for any political party. Or at least for those that intend to play a role in political proceedings. (The Freelancers Party for Free Liquor is prepared to wait for a people's mandate.)
Now, there are two broad ways to go about warming the cockles, if you will, of the many different societal segments of Mumbai. You could actually do something to uplift these folks by building them better roads, better homes and do the sort of thing that our politicians are currently learning how to do by going on international study tours to countries in Scandinavia.
Or you could make it LOOK like you care deeply about them.
And the latest tool in this PR sleight of hand is the Photoshop-ed hoarding.
Adobe Photoshop is a popular piece of software that is used in image manipulation. The exact function of the software is pretty self-evident from the name of the software itself. 'Photo' stands for photograph and 'Shop' stands for the fact that you can do a lot of shopping with the money you save from buying pirate copies of the software from vendors in South Mumbai.
Practitioners use Photoshop to touch-up and make minor edits to photographs or other images you scan and upload. It is extremely versatile and this is particularly evident on matrimonial sites. With just a few clicks a person who otherwise would describe his complexion as 'silhouette' becomes a much more popularly pleasing 'wheatish'.
Yet the most innovative use of Photoshop I have seen in a while is the way the politicians of Mumbai use it to reach out to the sections of society that they have lost touch with over the prevailing years. That portion of the populace I like to call the voting public.
When some form of election is around the corner, the politician sits up and takes notice. Suddenly he remembers that it's been a long time, approximately a term in office, since he was in touch with the voting masses. And then, after spending a few jealous moments contemplating upon President Musharraf and his productive, democratic ways, the politician decides he needs to connect with the people.
He immediately calls for a festivals calendar and an accomplished Photoshop operator.
And then suddenly the creative political hoardings begin to make their appearance.
Each politician in Mumbai has a photo taken of themselves that they have quite the fancy for. It is probably the one in which they look the youngest and most handsome -- when the smile is at its best and the body language is most imperial. A high-resolution of this photo is handed over to the operator.
The operator then sets out to make hoardings.
Just around a Muslim festival the hoardings come out all over Bandra and the Byculla side with each politico wearing an ethnically suitable fur cap. As is the norm, each hoarding will showcase one important individual in large profile and the rest scattered all over the rest of the hoarding. However the fur cap on each one of them is identically placed, slightly tilted to one side.
Come Gandhi Jayanti and the fur caps are replaced with a neat array of crisp white Gandhi caps Photoshop-ed onto the exact same collection of heads. The operator does not apply even a smite of imagination. The most he will do is resize them to fit the heads. And even that is sometimes missed. Leaving some of the local 'samaj sevaks' looking like they bought the cap before shrinking in an intense sauna. Recently, black tilaks were the norm in a show of unity with the pilgrims who thronged the city for Ambedkar Jayanti.
And the poses! Sonia Gandhi [Images] is always seen leaning forward and waving. Sharad Pawar [Images] is normally grinning widely with his chin tucked into his chest. Balasaheb is pausing, pensively, mid-sentence. Raj Thakeray is always pointing expansively towards the left with his back to you.
But whatever their poses, the Photoshop-ing cannot be missed. Sometimes, in a bizarre show of political unity, you sense that the fur cap is the same across party lines and head sizes. Identical to the vertical crease in front. The same Photoshop guy?
Of course, it's all weird political gesturing. Most people can make out the cold, insincerity of it all. They can easily see beyond the thin veil of make-believe and see them politicians for who they are: vile demigods eager to tap into our own social insecurities and win our valuable votes.
To use a popular Malayali metaphor: that dal is not going to cook in our oven sir! We are not going to fall for this ridiculous opportunism. We will make up our minds on our own!
Well, I think so. I hope so.
a dream of mine @ once a loser always a loser
8:40: i am going to the airport to board a flight on a hand pulled rickshaw , i can c the facade of the airport across a distance of 2.5 kms8:42: rushing , gushing thru the open fields8:50: inside the airport in the baggage check counter8:51:onto the boarding pass counter8:52 security check , the metal scanner detects a scissor ( i dunno y i was carrying it though these security fellows are very particular abt sharp objects )
8:55: flight is suppose to leave at 9, i reach the passenger throughway9:00: still in their vans that carry us to the plane , i c the flight take off thru the window of that vannow it is fun
9:01 : i request the on field attendant to call back the flight ( as if i was queen elizabeth , and my father was her husband )
9:03: flight manoeuvres around and lands back to pick me upimagine how big a dumbo i amnow still not content with that9:04 : my insatiable hunger for cigs drives me to ask for a 1 minute extension so that i can have a puff9:05 : request granted time for next take off extended to 9:06i light up a cig , the puff chain beginsguess what happens next...i go on puffing .... smoke rings in the air ... one puff .... one moreits like when u r answering a tough ques u feel like goin till the end , till u get the answeru go on attemptingi am still puffing......
9:05:59 : jus 1 last one i say to myself 9:06 : rush towards the plane to see it soaring in the air , above the runway , away from me , gone missed it again
7:45: hrs : my lady alarm pushes me off my bed , stilll in somnolence i am " ALARMED " - for 3 reasons - the alarm , the dream , to see the real world not going anywhr.
moral of the dream :
" TO save a soul , sometimes a limb has to be amputated"( as lincoln said in the distant past and as musharraf re-quoted him when he declared the extra-constitutional emergency ) andthe 2nd moral" a pair of scissors can shear u off a lot of money "
if i wud have saved the 3 mts there in the security check i wud have caught the flight in the 1st place and the question of the 2nd place would not have come i analysed itit was such a true dreami am always late , i smoke tilll the butt , i am carelessu knw it shows the real thing.
and i had missd a flight just some days backslept off thinkin i had loads of time and jus got off 2 hrs before the flightand obviously nno human is ever satiable , not me alone
and the best thing is during a security check they had actually taken off a pair of scissorshow true can a dream bethan thathow close can it be to reality
8:55: flight is suppose to leave at 9, i reach the passenger throughway9:00: still in their vans that carry us to the plane , i c the flight take off thru the window of that vannow it is fun
9:01 : i request the on field attendant to call back the flight ( as if i was queen elizabeth , and my father was her husband )
9:03: flight manoeuvres around and lands back to pick me upimagine how big a dumbo i amnow still not content with that9:04 : my insatiable hunger for cigs drives me to ask for a 1 minute extension so that i can have a puff9:05 : request granted time for next take off extended to 9:06i light up a cig , the puff chain beginsguess what happens next...i go on puffing .... smoke rings in the air ... one puff .... one moreits like when u r answering a tough ques u feel like goin till the end , till u get the answeru go on attemptingi am still puffing......
9:05:59 : jus 1 last one i say to myself 9:06 : rush towards the plane to see it soaring in the air , above the runway , away from me , gone missed it again
7:45: hrs : my lady alarm pushes me off my bed , stilll in somnolence i am " ALARMED " - for 3 reasons - the alarm , the dream , to see the real world not going anywhr.
moral of the dream :
" TO save a soul , sometimes a limb has to be amputated"( as lincoln said in the distant past and as musharraf re-quoted him when he declared the extra-constitutional emergency ) andthe 2nd moral" a pair of scissors can shear u off a lot of money "
if i wud have saved the 3 mts there in the security check i wud have caught the flight in the 1st place and the question of the 2nd place would not have come i analysed itit was such a true dreami am always late , i smoke tilll the butt , i am carelessu knw it shows the real thing.
and i had missd a flight just some days backslept off thinkin i had loads of time and jus got off 2 hrs before the flightand obviously nno human is ever satiable , not me alone
and the best thing is during a security check they had actually taken off a pair of scissorshow true can a dream bethan thathow close can it be to reality
ઐન્જ, ત્યાન્જ :સાથે ને અલગ :ખૂબ સાથે ને ખૂબ અલગ: my gujarati poem
1
Together, apart:
ઐન્જ, ત્યાન્જ :સાથે ને અલગ :ખૂબ સાથે ને ખૂબ અલગ:
ખૂબ સાથે ને ખૂબ અલગ;
આજ છે મનુશ્ય ના મન ની ઉપાધિ ની ઝલક…
આટ્લા બધા દિવસ સાથે ને સાથે;
આટ્લૂ શિખ્યા કઈ કેહેવા ને ચેજ નહિ માથે …
ખૂબ બધિ ચીજો હમો ને ખબર ચે અન્તર્મન્માઅ;
આપરા દર્રોજ ના શબ્દો ખાન્દાનિ કરિબી ના …..
અઈ નથિ તમે ,તમારિ જરૂરત મેહ્સૂસ થાય છે;
અને હૂન જ્યારે ત્યાન હોઉ છુ તોહ ભાગ્વાનિ મજ્બૂરિ હોય ચે ….
“ટિપે ટિપે સોનુ ભેગુ કર્વાનિ જરૂરત હોય છે”
જ્યાન બધૂજ અજિબોગરિબ હોય છે ;
પણ તે છતાએ અન્જાન નથિ હોતુ….
હૂન ત્યારે ઝાડ ના પર્છાવા ના નીચે ;
બેઠો રહૂ છૂ એક્લો ..
પોતા ના અન્દર ઝાકુ છૂ…
તોહ તમારા અડ્તા સાયા ની કમિ મેહ્સૂસ થાય છે….
એ માણા નો સાયો ,જે માણ ઉપર આજ્ની ગલિચ હવ્વાઓ ની પર્છાયિ નથિ પડી…..
હૂન મારા હિસ્સા ની ઇન્સાનિયત ને મેડવ્વા નો પ્રયત્ન કરુ છુ;
પણ સક્ષમ નથિ થતો કારણ કી તમ્ને ખાસ અડી નથિ સક્તો …
સમય એ પન્ખિડો છે ;
જે આખોના ના ખૂડાઓ મા છાપ છોડી જાય છે….
સમય ઘોડા નો તે ચાલક છે ;
જે આપરા માટે સૂર્ય અને ચન્દ્રમા ને દર્શાવે છે આકાશ ના દર્પન મા ……
સમય શ્રિન્ગાર નો એ ચોર છે ;
જે અમોને દયિ જાય છે આસૂ ને તજ્દી….
પણ સત્ય નો સાક્ષાત્કાર એજ છે ;
કે આપરા સમય ને પકડ્વા નો પ્રયત્ન કર્વૂ બેકાર છે!!
એ તો બસ એક પન્ખિદો છે;
જે આપરા થિ ઉડિ જાય છે….
એટ્લેજ દર્રોજ ઉઠ્તા મને થાય છે ;
કિ તમ્ને પક્દિ લઊ એવા કિ છોડાઅજ ના શકાય …
નહિ તોહ સમય ખાઇ જશે;
મારા સપ્નો ના ઘોડા ,તમ્ને પ્રદાન કર્વિ અપાર શક્તિ
આ કોઇ પાર્કા ની મૂડિ નથિ કે ના પચે ;
આ તોહ છે માર અન્તર્મન ની વાતોન……
Together, apart:
ઐન્જ, ત્યાન્જ :સાથે ને અલગ :ખૂબ સાથે ને ખૂબ અલગ:
ખૂબ સાથે ને ખૂબ અલગ;
આજ છે મનુશ્ય ના મન ની ઉપાધિ ની ઝલક…
આટ્લા બધા દિવસ સાથે ને સાથે;
આટ્લૂ શિખ્યા કઈ કેહેવા ને ચેજ નહિ માથે …
ખૂબ બધિ ચીજો હમો ને ખબર ચે અન્તર્મન્માઅ;
આપરા દર્રોજ ના શબ્દો ખાન્દાનિ કરિબી ના …..
અઈ નથિ તમે ,તમારિ જરૂરત મેહ્સૂસ થાય છે;
અને હૂન જ્યારે ત્યાન હોઉ છુ તોહ ભાગ્વાનિ મજ્બૂરિ હોય ચે ….
“ટિપે ટિપે સોનુ ભેગુ કર્વાનિ જરૂરત હોય છે”
જ્યાન બધૂજ અજિબોગરિબ હોય છે ;
પણ તે છતાએ અન્જાન નથિ હોતુ….
હૂન ત્યારે ઝાડ ના પર્છાવા ના નીચે ;
બેઠો રહૂ છૂ એક્લો ..
પોતા ના અન્દર ઝાકુ છૂ…
તોહ તમારા અડ્તા સાયા ની કમિ મેહ્સૂસ થાય છે….
એ માણા નો સાયો ,જે માણ ઉપર આજ્ની ગલિચ હવ્વાઓ ની પર્છાયિ નથિ પડી…..
હૂન મારા હિસ્સા ની ઇન્સાનિયત ને મેડવ્વા નો પ્રયત્ન કરુ છુ;
પણ સક્ષમ નથિ થતો કારણ કી તમ્ને ખાસ અડી નથિ સક્તો …
સમય એ પન્ખિડો છે ;
જે આખોના ના ખૂડાઓ મા છાપ છોડી જાય છે….
સમય ઘોડા નો તે ચાલક છે ;
જે આપરા માટે સૂર્ય અને ચન્દ્રમા ને દર્શાવે છે આકાશ ના દર્પન મા ……
સમય શ્રિન્ગાર નો એ ચોર છે ;
જે અમોને દયિ જાય છે આસૂ ને તજ્દી….
પણ સત્ય નો સાક્ષાત્કાર એજ છે ;
કે આપરા સમય ને પકડ્વા નો પ્રયત્ન કર્વૂ બેકાર છે!!
એ તો બસ એક પન્ખિદો છે;
જે આપરા થિ ઉડિ જાય છે….
એટ્લેજ દર્રોજ ઉઠ્તા મને થાય છે ;
કિ તમ્ને પક્દિ લઊ એવા કિ છોડાઅજ ના શકાય …
નહિ તોહ સમય ખાઇ જશે;
મારા સપ્નો ના ઘોડા ,તમ્ને પ્રદાન કર્વિ અપાર શક્તિ
આ કોઇ પાર્કા ની મૂડિ નથિ કે ના પચે ;
આ તોહ છે માર અન્તર્મન ની વાતોન……
whacky wishlist of mine for this new year
i wish that in the new year i have that 'time turner' pendant like the one hermione has which wud take me to a point in time faster than anybody else and i cud welcome others to that point in time by saying " veni.vidi .vici-i came ,saw and conquered , before u , and then i wud want to have a cloning machine like the one prof. calculus has in tintin and the lake of sharks , so that i can keep 1 copy of me at home , the other at office ,for parallel work and leisure. i also wish to have a global satellite which wud scan for me my wishlist of people throughout the world who wud be correctly tuned to my profile and surrounded by whom i wud like to stay .
legend of mahashivratri
Here is the story.According to a legend in the Shiva Purana, once Brahma and Vishnu were fighting over who was the superior of the two. Horrified at the intensity of the battle, the other gods asked Shiva to intervene. To make them realize the futility of their fight, Shiva assumed Linga form of a huge column of fire in between Brahma and Vishnu. Awestruck by its magnitude, they decided to find one end each to establish supremacy over the other. Brahma assumed the form of a swan and went upwards and Vishnu as Varaha went into the earth. The column of fire had no limit and though they searched for thousands of miles, neither could find the end. On his journey upwards, Brahma came across aketaki flower wafting down slowly. When asked where she had come from, Ketaki replied that she had been placed at the top of the fiery column as an offering. Unable to find the uppermost limit, Brahma decided to end his search and take the flower as a witness. At this, the angry Shiva revealed his true form. He punished Brahma for telling a lie, and cursed him that no one would ever pray to him. The ketaki flower too was banned from being used as an offering for any worship, as she had testified falsely. Since it was on the 14th day in the dark half of the month of Phalguna that Shiva first manifested himself in the form of a linga, the day is especially auspicious and is celebrated asMahashivratri.
for the quizzers; happening questions :
Happy quizzing!!!
Which filmmaker does not like to use brand name in his movies and rather invents new names to use?
Who was the first father-son duo to win F1 championship?
Which place spread over 223 hectares, has a turnover of Rs 200 crore and has an economy which makes leather goods, pottery, handicrafts etc.?
What did Lawrence Sperry, the founding member of the mile-high club (an esoteric club of individuals who have enjoyed sex on an air-borne aircraft) invent?
From which source does the Chinese recording industry get half of its income?
Vayu and Vasuki had a challenge about who was strongest. They surrounded Mt. Meru. As a result of their sport, the peak of Mt. Meru broke off a piece. It was named ‘Trikuta’. Vishwakarma used it to build a palace for the Gods. How is it bet known in Hindu mythology and current world, as well?
Which bank was formed in 1951 as a result of the merger of the bank of Australasia and the Union Bank of Australia?
Whose punchline is “Keep You Style Alive”?
If FM Fever 104 is to HT Media Ltd. and Virgin Music, then the Mint is to HT Media Ltd. and …………………
Who recently interviewed Hugo Chavez for GQ, a British men’ lifestyle magazine?
Which filmmaker does not like to use brand name in his movies and rather invents new names to use?
Who was the first father-son duo to win F1 championship?
Which place spread over 223 hectares, has a turnover of Rs 200 crore and has an economy which makes leather goods, pottery, handicrafts etc.?
What did Lawrence Sperry, the founding member of the mile-high club (an esoteric club of individuals who have enjoyed sex on an air-borne aircraft) invent?
From which source does the Chinese recording industry get half of its income?
Vayu and Vasuki had a challenge about who was strongest. They surrounded Mt. Meru. As a result of their sport, the peak of Mt. Meru broke off a piece. It was named ‘Trikuta’. Vishwakarma used it to build a palace for the Gods. How is it bet known in Hindu mythology and current world, as well?
Which bank was formed in 1951 as a result of the merger of the bank of Australasia and the Union Bank of Australia?
Whose punchline is “Keep You Style Alive”?
If FM Fever 104 is to HT Media Ltd. and Virgin Music, then the Mint is to HT Media Ltd. and …………………
Who recently interviewed Hugo Chavez for GQ, a British men’ lifestyle magazine?
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