Car story

One colleague asked me to help him with his car buying decision.

he has made up his mind about Toyota Innova and wanted my opinion...

I as always any right meaning indian does offered instant cuppa of advice...

Innova .... Rowdy Rathore of the Indian road...

Altis however from the same stable is a big car with an Attitude ... 

after he entered the car & looked at the interiors...he was hooked...

After a while he started ruing the fact why he invited me over :) ....his decision making took a back seat now...


thats how the cookie crumbles :D

reminds me i used to have colleagues named as Axel not so long ago.(not Axle) :-) 


Geezzhus Kriist....

/P

Uttarakhand disaster : himalayan blunder

the Uttarakhand disaster is the worst of its kind disaster in recent years.
Whether its man made or government made...I think the latter is true.

Successive governments  have ignored ecological concerns and the result is land slides and flooding in the Himalayan regions causing the worst catastrophe in recent years.

Even the Rescue personnel lost their lives in the brutal weather.

RIP my fellow country men. Pity ... Not much an average indian can do for you except pray.


-P

Corruption manifests corruption in Indian Cricket

 Sreesanth & 2 other cricketers have been arrested by Delhi police after possibly months of scrutiny of their affairs. Delhi police care less about what happens on the streets of Delhi where women are molested, raped & then brutally assaulted or murdered.

To me it appears that IPL owners are throwing away parties and flowing money into this not for nothing in return.

The Return on Investment is quite much and that is the promising aspect for them.
How do you for instance justify :
1. Vijay mallya's attendance when he is supposedly "bankrupt" and owes many banks crores of rupees.
2. FEMA violations of the IPL Franchisee owners are swept under the carpet.
3. BCCI not taking a stand on controlling the menace. BCCI says it could happen to any game...how lame duck an argument.
4. Investment in IPL teams done by companies situated in tax heavens abroad.

The BCCI has become a well oiled money laundering racket with all political parties and business men running the show & sharing the proceeds. Not surprising that the biggest cash cow the IPL has been shielded and systematically cut away from investigative agencies glare.

On a day when the Coal blocks allocation & railway board scams were pushed under the carpet.
Sreesanth became the sacrificial lamb....throw in a "D" word and you have the perfect recipe for clearing public memory of huge scams and government demeanors at the highest order & levels.
one wonders if "Dawood " is called upon by the congress party to solve their issues.

Sreesanth is not guilty at all when compared to the Business men who run the BCCI & IPL.
compared to BCCI looting Sreesanth  is just a man who wanted to make a quick buck just the timing was wrong.
its a case of slight corruption of a already corrupt money making venture.
Lalit modi's tirade against Sreesanth just adds to the irony of it all..

its like a parody of the movie "a few good men" instead here we have a "few bad men" among criminals.

Sonia & Rahul can heave a sigh of relief along with manmohan singh. They must thank their stars & Lalit modi for inventing IPL and keeping the average indians glare on to the cricketfield rather than functioning of the government Machinery.

Death of Sangeeta halappanavar : Flavours of Euthanasia

There is Huge outcry over the death or Murder of Sangeeta at the hands of Doctors in the Ireland in the name of religion.

entire india seems to be crying out in agony & rightly so.

For me this is another flavour of Euthanasia where the incumbent's child (or foetus) was denied a right to terminate a pathetic existence on its own and left to die. This resulted in her death.

While I do not support this draconian law or behaviour from the doctors.
I would wish the average Indian took the subtle connection with Euthanasia which is still illegal in india.

many people who are incapacitated due to various reasons are allowed to agonize in pain until death visits them.

its time people wake up to this unfortunate fact and raise this topic and ratify legal Euthanasia in India.



/Prasanna

India out of control

Reading the news about a teenager being shot dead by Paki army for accusations of stealing was horrendous.
Watching it was grouse and sad. I am sure you guys felt the same way. Just makes you think Pakistan is a control beyond repair.

But what about india ?
1. A girl in uttar pradesh state was blinded by miscreants for refusing to undergo rape
2. Peaceful demonstrators fighting corruption were tear gassed and lathi charged in the capital of the country.
3. A certain individual was caught in a bus travelling with Rs 5.5 crores in 2 gunny bags.
4. The scam tainted government quietly makes papers disappear to avoid big politicians getting caught in the scandals
5. Fuel prices and inflation is at an all time high and the government cares a damn about such issues. They say well this is the best we can or anyone else can do at this point.


The moot point is some individuals are getting rich and the country is getting poorer day by day.
There seems to be no way to control this country with the reins being in the hands of a corrupt government

The Road Not Taken!

 & I'm back! blogging away my blues.

These days when I get to work from the 26 kms commute. I have some musings about it.
1. The road not taken is probably not the most optimum way since others would take it if it was.
2. The crowded roads keep the Bus driver busy but my mind is less crowded since i take a short snap!
    A fresh open mind is like a concert
3. will i ever get back to Jamming with buddies ? remain to be seen
4. little Partha is all over in my mind when i return from work.& he is all over me when I get home.
Thus i crave to return home by the 5:15 pm office bus. If you met partha you would do the same.
He is one bundle of energy waiting to be channelized.

Thats it folks! I crash into bed now!

ALOHA

Udan khatole & clear skies!

The sun has come out today and the skies are clear blue. I can from my desk see the Copenhagen coastline.

In fact todaY I can even see the planes circling over the Copenhagen kastrup airport.

Par khulneki deyri hain...parinde udke choomenge aasmaan aasmaan aassamaan

The temperatures are still cold and once they get near zero degrees then we can see some more life in the out.

:)

Republic Day importance

Today is the Jan 26th the date on which India became a republic sovereign state.
I saw many people post the Indian National Flag images on the Facebook. I was about to click on "Like this" button but part of me feels i ought to do better than this.
I am not saying since I am away in Sweden I could not celebrate it.

All I did was remember the sacrifice of Bhagat Singh, Sukh dev, Rajguru & countless freedom fighters.
they had a right to live a peaceful life. But they chose a higher calling.
salutations to the Martyrs!

May their souls rest in peace.

Guardian Angel ...calling ?

I was tired and fell asleep while reading a book...suddenly i felt someone was calling me to get up ..and do the thing...
As if it was a higher calling in life which awaited my next step....

pity ...I found my microwave honking to get my attention that the rice was now cooked and I could meal my self up before I passed out into this ultra cold January Friday night!


-P

media blooper : WTF moment!

In these days of smart mobile phones people still dial the wrong numbers

one such blooper hilarious 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDVWoZ4KLWw

Onion Fetishes

With the rise in prices of onions in India....I have a sudden urge to use Onion in every meal.

Raison d'être  is that food commodity prices in indian have been steadily growing, whereas over my 3 year period of stay in sweden.

The prices of all commodities have stayed the same. only travel costs have gone up that too marginally.

As I munch on my Onion Dosa :) I pity the Indian who is being taken for a ride with Onion tears in his eyes ;)

/P

Listening to Ustad Zakir Hussain Tabla concert

Today Sun has come out in Lund, Sweden.
And its zero degrees today, yippee...the snow is melting.
And so I have got a bit of a +ve frame of mind

Well I thought why not lift the mood even higher by listening to Ustad Zakir Hussain's tabla performance.

So I started listening to these performances on You tube.

/P

iFaceBook or iFacePad

Tech Gizmos and Lingos are growing over me like a sea wave. I never seem to catch up.
However when i reflect back, Does iPhone really make my life any better ?
a. I still have my old phone which is in fine fettle.
b. when I will end up using iphone i might end up using more data services
c. I might be left out in the race to the newest gizmo...i might appear to folks as an old fashioned guy. !!! I hate that but that does not mean I should keep buying gizmos endlessly mindlessly ?

iPad is one such product which many ppl use nowadays when they wait at the Doctors queue or at the Train stations. I see that instead of socializing it actually is making a person switch himself off from others near him. Good or Bad I dont know.

comign to Facebook, I get so many messages from friends on FB. I try not to use it since Social Networking is bit addictive like say you tube. If I get very active on FB and say do not message my other friends on FB it might be taken as a rude thingy.
So I try to avoid FB as much as possible. [ its not working out too well though I must say :) ]

/P

WiKi Leaks is Over Rated

I feel the Wikileaks is over rated. Simply when compared to the Chinese hack exploit.
The Chinese hacked into US & indian government computers and got more than WiKiLeaks could imagine. These are from the known accounts of breakins by chinese.
To add to the list is the hacking of google & gmail servers. Imagine the wealth of information.

It is no wonder the Chinese Government is scared of WL.

If WikiLeaks manages to get hold of the wealth of Information China has pilfered from different government computers then its a bigger problem waiting to happen :).

/P

Isn't it Ironic!

The pakistani people and government are trying to save Aafia Siddiqui who is a known offender by her own sons accounts and admissions.

Pakistani government is commendable or not I don't know since they are leaving no stone unturned to help a convicted pakistani who has been on their terror radar.

Pakistani DNA, justifies wrong doing and in face of damning evidence says " Innocent until proven Guilty". From Paki politicians to Cricketers all are corrupt.

But I compare this sequence of events to our Indian who was arrested in US Airport.

Vijay Kumar was a film maker and he was harassed by US officials for carryign some material which their own American Film makers carry.

The Indian government should be ashamed of itself. It has to take a leaf out of the Paki government in terms of protecting its citizens when they are innocent.

But of course if they do that who will play the game called "amass the Common Wealth".

The Indian gullible public continues to vote for the congress party even though they have been a failure on all fronts.

At least our sportsmen are not corrupt.

God Bless India!

Quote for the day

you might have heard of ..."Ashiq ka janaaza hain zara dhoom se nikle"

I think it is apt for the Pakistan cricketers spot fixing scandal....every day there are new facts emerging from the scandal.

"Besharmoan kaa janazaa hain zara dhoom se niklee" :)

bloggadelic

Hi,

I was offline for a long while. Meanwhile I became a proud father of a baby boy. His name is Partha. Right now I am marooned in this country called sweden. And I wish Suhasini & partha were here...:(

Around the world, In pakistan cricket has found a saviour with the PCB and its own Government.

They are in an eternal state of denial ofany wrong doing. They have planted stories that the paki cricketers caught accepting bribes is manufactured by indian intelligence.

They have put the director of inception to shame. Such wilds ideas do get planted in the illiterate moslem population of Pakistan. & so the politicians make hay with the US givernments Relief package. Tha Paki Army is pocketing billions of dollars of relief money.

Whatever happened to the original intent of the name "Pakistan" ...he he he

Qotm: Dubai Duty Free

Q: What would Mossad agents say after the killing of the Hamas leader ???
A: Dubai Duty Free

Q: What will you say to Hamas leaders in Dubai ???
A: Shop till you drop :)

The Dubai story appears to have archaic connotations with the Avatar movie. Well I might be entering the areas of dark humour here. Where the Protagonist in the Avatar movie belongs to a Gang which dons the Natives roles to infiltrate and get their land. This incident had some suspects using British ,French, Irish & german passports to enter Dubai and eliminate the Senior Hamas Leader.
It sure sounds like a Hollywood movie which has been turned to reality TV after footage of the suspects moving around in hotels appeared on youtube & was continously displayed on TVs.

The Avatars looked in business as usual and its hard to imagine that their "business as usual" was actually eliminating a hamas leader ;)

while the average israelis will be humming "these are the some of my favourite things"
I wud ask the same question the protagonist in Munich movie had....Will this changed anything ?
If it stops terrorism then it might be good. But in all probability many Hamas leaders would emerge due to such incidents...There is no happy ending to this tale unlike the Avatar movie climax.


/Adios

Cupid strikes with a vengeance : Love is all around

Alright some recap to the headline...today being Valentines day Suhasini & myself lurked around the Shoppers stop outlet @ Bannerghatta road....& Sure enough all the love struck couples were in hordes trying to buy goodies for their loved ones...It was a Full house and we had to wade through scores of people to get anywhere in the store. I felt these days bank balances and buying capacities are deciding factors for a woman choosing her purrfect man. Some would say its a Alpha male thingy ;) ...well I am not writing about dating etiquette here....just my mere mortal thoughts.

Did you just say 'Get A Life' eh ? well in Bangalore it would be criminal to sit at home on weekends considering the number of eating joints, Malls and other entertainment centres which have sprung up. For me there is a different take on the happenings in the city.

I hail from a Mumbai middle class family and never relate to such things...for me life is still the fast life we used to live in mumbai...meaning work life is a strict balance. People are less pampered in such a society with goodies they can live without.
Mumbai life is etched in our DNA such that life in Bangalore is a luxury.

These days I commute 3 hours in a day so when I get back home I hardly have energy to blog. That should explain my prolonged abstinence or absence from my web logs.
Commuting 3 hours in a day makes you feel if you are really doing justice to your family in terms of providing Quality time, Happiness and Health to them. Well I strive to do that.
That seems to be the objective while doing justice to our jobs & earning bread in the process.
Its starting to get little hot & sticky in Bangalore and so maybe time for me to head back to Lund,Sweden.

We had been to Rammurthy's house earlier in the day for a luncheon and it sure was nice meet up.

At least for me I would avoid & advise anyone to just pass MNIK movie.
I hate pakistan supporters. I hope there is some day a software for TV which can block news tagged with words such as "MNIK", phew!

I also took my nephew to the park today and he is one hyper active kid always in for some action.
I also noticed some kids are the real Fussy sorts. Actually we are expecting a baby in June so I kind of hope
our little one is a little less Fussy :) . Since I was a different kind of introvert I would hope my kiddo turns out an extrovert.

Controversy Quotient CQ

Nowadays its just plain fashionable to be in the News for the wrong reasons. After all celebrities need to be in the NEWS and to satisfy this eternal craving they have started to resort to getting publicity of the wrong kind.

Shahrukh is a case in study, Aamir khan & his 3 idiots is another study for the indians.
Both the actors have reached their pinnacle of success. They strive to better themselves( so at least they think) but they end up in the cess pool of the Media Hungry celebrities. May it be Rahul Gandhi, Bal thackeray all the men seem to be in a hurry to kick up controversies...
Personally I am fed up of all this senseless bickering.

Shahrukh is a study in contrast, his support to Pakistani cricketers is not strange to me since I saw him declare on a TV show that his father is from Pakistan and so has sympathises towards Pakis.
His charades at the US airport was a well timed kickstart to his controversy career.
His Movies off late have faded into oblivion and his publicist seems to be more talented than the Actor himself.
The Chetan Bhagat 3 idiots spat was timed to trigger sagging book sales and some movie publicity. Aamir though contributes to the 'Indian' ethos and just clamours for controversy for the greater gain of the Distribuitors & himself. The Notion of Nation is still evident from his actions.

& its where shark khan crosses the line is in support of the Paki cricketers.
Running a team in IPL is tantamount to know the Business of Cricketing Finances.
Thus Shahrukh very well knows that money into Pakistan is nothing but Money in the hands of the Terrorists. Which will be eventually unleased as more terror attacks in India or Mumbai.

While sporting is a good way of establishing goodwill. After the Munich Olympics where jews were slaughtered by the palestinians it should be a known fact that supporting such events with criminals is perpetrating the crime itself. Moreover Shahid Afridi who was caught red handed tampering the ball seems to have refused to play in the IPL. Such players deserve no mention leave alone sponsorship. God bless Bob Woolmers soul which might have many more sordid tales to tell.

I would say I dont respect Shahrukh anymore. After its uncovered that Pakistan via David headley had orchestrated and continues to abet terror he should have refrained from such statements.
Since he also ignored the Pakis he is being un faithful to his fathers tribe in a way.

Bottomline seems to be Controversy is tantamount to Popularity.
Survival of the Fittest and the Controversiest :)

Pakistani cricket is always mired in controversy,
Its funny how its Controversy Quotient has even started affecting Indian Politics due to sympathisers like the Shark Khan.

whats an Actor & his Movies without some Controversy!

/P