30 November 2006

Aa yaa India.....!!

I watched the brilliance of Dhoni as a keeper to get Hall run out, cheating him to get the wickets down.
I watched the opposition batsmen struggling to hit the boundaries in the last over.
I was pretty impressed!!

Then I continued to be hooked to the channel, in spite of constant pressures from mother to shift to her favourite serial.
I watched Indian batsmen stumbling…still continued with it…
It was getting late at night…I chose to watch it completely….
I knew that off late they have been playing pathetically, but still had some hope of a turnaround…

Wickets fell like the drops of a monsoon rain..sudden and in a flash.
It seemed as if they were in competition to get back to the pavilion faster….
Dhoni hit a six..and another boundary..I was cheerful..
I was struggling to be awake…Rubbing my eyes....
I knew I had to get up early for my daily exercise…I still chose to watch it..

There again started the competition…One fell..after another…
Tried to keep my eyes open, but couldn’t do it…and so because of my spirit of watching the game dying.

It was past 1AM the next day and I had to call it quits.. And yeah I did; realizing I must be up at 5AM again.

Morning 5AM, my alarm rang, I stopped it and said oh! Not so sooon, and slept back.
When I looked at my watch it was 7:30 already…and time to rush for the work…
Blamed myself for being lazy and headed for the wash.



Now…when I usually get up late…I behave so crazy that I end up spending twice the amount of time for doing same thing than a normal day…and a being of dullness…oh! That’s disgusting…
So one full day wasted!!

When I think of it all….I sacrificed my good sleep….I sacrificed my early morning Jog…I sacrificed my music practice…I sacrificed my whole day’s active being…and so on… One day of mine is sacrificed for the team that didn’t do well..And I'm sure that there are millions who would’ve done the same across the country…Millions of days wasted…!

After all these, there's one un-answered question :
Is our cricket team really worth our sacrifices??

20 November 2006

A few habitually superstitious moments!!

Narayana Murthy started watching the cricket match. He saw Indian wickets stumbling against Pakistan. Fed up, he went in and slept. Morning he grabbed the newspaper with a coffee. He was surprised to learn about the Indian victory the previous night. Analytical as he is, tried to find out the reason for this fortune turnaround. He found none. He declared in a press meet, which he attended that day, that because he did not watch the later part of the match, Indian team got all the luck that was required and he declared that India wins every time he stops following the match after a while. No one knew that winning a cricket match was as easy as that!!

My classmate, she always used to stand first in my class, every semester. Once, probably in 6th semester, that day we had received the previous semester’s results. She had topped again. We all started hunting for her to pass our congratulations. She was not to be found anywhere. When enquired with her roommates also we didn’t get to know about her whereabouts. She was seen in the college previous day, but was not present on that result day. It was late in the evening; she came rushing to the college, to see her results on the notice board. I spotted her then, congratulated and asked her about her whereabouts from morning. She told me, “I get weird results when I see it with a different pair of dress. I learnt in the morning about the result being displayed today and also I realised that I had left this dress at home. So rushed home and got it to see the result.” Would the result be different had she been wearing a different set of dress that day?

When Ganguly got out that day, he could not believe India was loosing again on a big final match. Having played excellently throughout the tournament, he was a bit disappointed. He sat on the couch in the player’s lounge thinking about this particular set back for his team. He had his T-shirt removed in a relaxing way. As soon as he removed his shirt, he saw kaif getting a hit to the fence. He sat there itself, in the same posture for next few minutes. Yavraj also started getting runs, both of them playing incredibly well. Someone asked Ganguly to meet a visitor. He refused to get up. He didn’t want to move because had he moved an inch from that place, his team would get unlucky and loose the game out. He refused even to wear the shirt. He remained in the same posture until his team won. He thought he brought good luck to the team by sitting on that couch bare-chested. Wouldn’t have India won had he gone out to meet his visitor or had he worn the T-shirt?

One of my friends bought a particular shirt to be worn for the final round of the interviews at a big company. He was wearing it on that day, but was rejected later by that MNC. Disappointed, he attended another big interview a few days later. He wore the same shirt in that interview as well. But unfortunately he was not selected that too. Next thing he did was to change his business attire and that particular shirt which was bought a few days back was thrown out of his house. And yes, he got a job at the next interview he attended!! This attire change brought him any luck?

I had to call up one of my friends, dialed his number on my mobile, but got connected to a wrong number. The guy who was on the other side of the phone was a fresher giving some interviews it seems. As I got a hint that I was speaking to a stranger, I was getting ready to hang the call. Same time, he said, “Please hold Sir! I’m getting another call.” He put me on hold and started conversing on the other call. Annoyed, I hung it. Soon, 5 minutes later, he called me and said, “Hey! You proved me lucky man. I got the job!! I’ll give you a big party.” And then we became friends. Would he have not got the job, hadn’t I got the wrong connection?

I used a particular pen, gifted by one of my uncles, when I was in school, to write my exams, any exam. I used the same pen for my 10th, II PU, all the eight semesters of my engineering. I cleared all these in flying colours. I was so fond of that pen, for all these reasons. I would take it out of my bag only for the exams. One day after my 8th semester exam, I was displaying it to my friends with an unprofaned pride and was telling them all the stories associated with my little wonder. Then, while handing it to one of them, it fell down and broke. My treasure lost forever. That day was gloomy for me of course; but gloomier, that day was, when I had my GATE exams. I cleared that exam, but not with flying colours which was required in it. I missed my long-served mate that day very badly. Was he to do anything in my GATE exams?

These things are just about a few of the experiences of superstition I’ve come across. Of course there are loads of such examples, I’m sure.
Are we really DUMB to follow anything so faithfully like these? Or is it just COOL to be following some ritual like these? Or is it an inherent fear in each individual that makes us follow something superstitiously? Or is there anything that makes us US, only if, we follow something special like that?

No answer can be found for these things. We follow something blindly and having a complete faith in that exercise that it’d bring us good LUCK is a mystery that has stood out of unraveling path.

I think superstitions make us disciplined being. We draw a virtual boundary around us with superstitions, if we follow it, be in this boundary, we’ll be contended about our work. If we try outside the box of our superstition and fail at the first effort itself, we start blaming ourselves for going out of our boundary. Isn’t it true practically?

If a hotel has seen more number of suicidal deaths in one particular room, does it have anything to do with it being numbered 13?

This particular theory haunts even the most educated, belonging to any faith, caste, culture. There’s no difference between an atheist and a theist in observing a superstition in individual terms. It changes from one individual to another. A followed superstition may not be same in case of two individuals. Some people just follow what their elders tell them superstitiously, some others don’t listen to their elders, just frame their own superstitions. It is actually a complex psychological construct that determines our superstition levels. And it purely depends on the individual tastes.

Let me here not put my own ideas whether following a superstition is good or not. Let us discuss more about such experiences than debate whether it is good or not. Let’s just share our experiences and have fun.

13 November 2006

A nice thought for today


There are those who do not realize
that one day we all must die.
But those who do realize this
settle their quarrels.

- Budha

06 November 2006

Living perplexed with a news

One fine morning I got up from bed, late. It was a Monday morning and already the ‘Blues started haunting me.

Without even making the bed, I grabbed the newspaper, anticipating some holiday announcement. Father shouted, “Wash your face, make your bed and then read it, it’s all the same you know, nothing new or nothing special.” With no mood to say a word in reverse to him, I went in reluctantly, finished my morning duties and came back to see if some politician is dead or if some terrorist planted a bomb in my office or something like that… but to my surcprise I read the following news : “A software Engineer was riding a two wheeler without wearing a helmet on the Ring Road and ended hitting the median. Bleeding through the head, he died on spot.” I thought, ‘Oh! You poor creature! Why did you first of all travel to work on a Sunday of all the days’ and continued reading.

The paper read the poor creature’s name as Srikanth P. I was horrified! I rubbed my eyes yet again, and read. I was not wrong, it was the same name. I screamed loud. Father came back, “Oh! Are you not up still? What’s that noise?” ‘Oh! Me.. He can hear me! But what’s written here?!’ I was perplexed at what I was reading and could not believe that I was dead!!

A sense of freedom erupted in me. I was now free to do anything, no need to go to office, no need to have my morning coffee and perform all those idiocy. I could now run over the Bangalore traffic with no one noticing me! I need not pay fine for breaking a rule, I can speak to those whom I love in the ‘Sixth sense’ type and have fun all alone… ‘Oh! Why no one can be so fortunate like me….’!

Then there came the voice “What did I tell you yesterday? I asked you to bring some vegetables from the market on your way back. How could you forget?” It was my Mother asking a reason for my failing the duty…. How could I explain her that I was no more a mortal and no food would ever be needed by me..! Pity of her…she still thinks I’m to follow what she tells me… I am no more entitled to any such harsh words, even from my Mother. I tried the ‘Gayab’ style, tried to elope into the wind, but could not, so had to answer my Mother. I thought I was still an amateur and so that art(of eloping) would be embracing me in some time, after much practice.

Then I got a weird thought, how if I meet a girl who is also dead. Oh! Ours would be a beautiful life together..!

I thought someone was pushing me hard from my back, turned and found my sister bating me for not having the coffee that was getting cold. ‘You fool!! I no more need your dirty coffee, I have my life open, lively and lovely! How would you know? Poor fellow.’ I wanted to tell her, but didn’t for reasons that she would get angered early morning and all that.

But then my mobile started ringing, all three at home started abusing me for wasting the morning idly and asked me to pick the call up. My sister peeked in to see who was on line. I was wondering what is it all, the ‘dead’ life, about? Why should I pick the call? She was holding her coffee that incidentally touched me. I felt something hot scratching my arm and cried ‘Ah! What’s that?’ She said, “Your BOSS on line, tell him that you’re still on bed dreaming!!” I picked the call, he asked me to come fast to the office so that I’d be in time to attend the phone-in conference. Suddenly I was on my toes and got ready and started to the office. I forgot that I was dead and all.

But when I was about to put on my helmet, I remembered the news item….and started with flash back. ‘I was not attending office yesterday at the first place, and moreover, to reach my office, I need not take the ring road, and of all, I never travel without a helmet’!!

I went in again and snatched the newspaper from my sister and read the news item again. It clearly said that the guy called Srikanth P was a native of Andhra Pradesh and worked with some company in White field, and was much elder in age to me…!

Uffff! I’m alive…”

P.S. I pray in God that the other Srikanth P’s soul be rest in Peace.

Suvarna Sambhrama in Suvarna Karnataka

Here are a few wonderful postcards from Karnataka. Most of the pictures are taken from my hands.

I am really glad to announce that This is my 50th post. A mile-stone achieved!!
Its more heartening to see it coming on the 50th anniversary of formation of Karnataka.
"Suvarna Sambhrama on Suvarna Kannada Rajyotsava in Suvarna Karnataka"!
What a clever co-incidence!!

"EE PATRAVANNU ODUTTIRUVA YELLARIGOO SUVARNA KANNADA RAJYOTSAVADA SHUBHASHAYAGALU".