Aaj mere yaaron ka budday hain...

Steering clear of posts beginning with "Of", here's to inform everyone that a looong looooong (too loong) time ago 2 idiots, namely TJ Eckleberg and Niniel decided that enough was enough and it was time that they fulfill their destinies of being the eternal spot(s) on my poor innocent mind. They were born 364 days apart, with TJ leading the way as usual. Since then it was ordained that my life would not be... what do they say... a normal one, thanks to our aforesaid hero and heroine.

So here's to the 2 idiots who have forever been and shall forever remain hell-bent on making a 3rd idiot out of me. Happy 25th and 24th respectively buggers. And I won't forget to put roses on your graaaves.

Of being a Dilliwallah

Courtesy : Dinesh Kapur

I know, I know its offensive but the black bit cracked me up..

Of Time and I

Saala I wake up every morning to an alarm, 6 days a week, and get to Office and switch on my computer at about the same time everyday...for over a year now.

Just not so long ago during college Time was a slave to me. Now it seems like I'm a slave to Time, and will be forever mooore.

Lesson : Don't get a job or forever sing, I want to breaak freeeee ..

Of Life coming to a full circle at a Govt. Office

Place : The Office of the Registrar of Firms, Societies and Non-trading Corporations at 10th Floor, Todi Mansion, Kolkata.

Time : Bright hot muggy afternoon.

So I finally stepped out of the cramped lift onto the 10th floor of Todi Mansion after having waited for over 20 minutes to get into the said lift in the first place (the queue had spilled onto the street outside). A small doorway to the left blocked by a wall of sweating visitors, queuing up for reasons best known to themselves, seemed to be the entrance to the Office. I waded my way through the barrage of bodies while profusely muttering apologies and calmly digesting the "tsk tsk(s)" and "arre dekhe moshai dekhe(s)" to finally find myself at the first desk of the said Govt. office where a bespectacled bucktooth civil servant sat signing papers while vociferously elaborating on his family's illustrous history to another sitting beside him.

I was here to file a couple of applications under the RTI Act. On inquiring as to who was the appropriate person to receive my application, I was pointed toward 'choto babu' who happened to be another bespectacled civil servant with a more sombre appearance. On repeating my question to the said 'choto babu' I was directed to a 'madam', a middle aged bespectacled (again!!) lady who spared me more time and attention than the two previous officers. However, she had no idea what the RTI was, or atleast she did a damn good job pretending not to know. She directed me to the Registrar's office itself, 'bodo babu', informing me that "uni jaanben.." (he'll know.. what you're talking about...i presume). So I met the Registrar himself who very kindly and calmly directed me to approach the desk just to the left of the entrance and submit my application and also reminded me to keep a receipt stamped photocopy for myself.

So I headed out one last time and lo! It was the bespectacled bucktooth civil servant, whom I'd met first upon entering the said office, that I had to submit my applications to. Only by this time he was going on about how they used to have 35 bigha jomeen (bigha = acre??; jomeen = zameen = plot of land) in Chottogram(Chittagong) that the dirty mullahs snatched from them.

My first real experience with the Indian bureaucracy. In retrospect it was entertaining, if nothing else. I only wish it wasn't soo bloody hot!

(FYI, I did manage to file the said application, though only after I informed our esteemed officer that I was instructed to come to him by 'bodo babu' himself)

Of Help & Pride

The Hindu reports that "Over 1,700 people have died and the UN says more than 650,000 people are without basic shelter while six million desperately need emergency aid. Tens of thousands of villages are still under water" in the current floods that have plagued Pakistan.

In what could be a political or a humanitarian gesture, the Indian government has offered US $5 million in flood relief aid to its struggling neighbour. Pakistan is yet to accept such offer. While India's offer is worthy of praise, one can't be sure of the motivations behind the same. Especially if one is a Pakistan national. However, the people stranded without basic life sustaining amenities could sure use the assistance. But would you live a life of gratitude to one you perceive as your enemy, or suffer with your pride intact?

I hope Pakistan accepts the funds.

Of New Delhi

I was in Delhi for a couple of nights to...well basically to live it up with a bunch of old timers who had come from 3 different cities to the nation's capital to re-live the days of the good old boy's hostel one more time. The only problem being that there were too many boys, just like in the times of the said boy's hostel.

Anyway, this short whirlwind trip to Delhi was fun to say the least. Friday saw me cross 4 state borders as I flew out of Kolkata, landed at the Delhi airport from where I was whisked away to Gurgaon to have lunch with an old school friend. Thereafter I availed the services of the Delhi Metro to get to Qutub Minar Station wherefrom an autoride took me to Barakhamba Road where I had an unscheduled meeting with an ugly sibling. Thereafter I got picked up by another friend, a proud Advocate of the Delhi High Court now, and rode away into the evening to Noida Stadium to play a football match which we arrived too late to participate in {classic kels... for the uninitiated kels is the affectionate insinuation of life giving one the proverbial kela (banana)}. In any case our team lost 8-2 to a bunch of kids from a local school who obviously weighed a good 20 kilos less than each of us and had a clean pair of lungs to go with that no doubt. Also the fact that we played the entire first half with 4 players against 7 didn't help our cause.

Saturday, turned out to be the longest day I'd lived since I left college. It commenced at 7 in the morning with a practice football match at Pandara Road, wherein I realised the exact extent of my match-unfitness, and ended at 5 next morning with a well rolled joint, rolled by yours truly. In the middle I managed to fit in going swimming, breakfast at CP, a couple of hours sleep, meeting a bunch of old timers edging to break loose of their newfound corporate sanity, a few choicest cocktails accompanied by a bottle of Black Label and a 5ltr keg of chilled Heineken, and some of the usual drunken drama that is not so usual in my life anymore. Like I said, FUN!

Just one of the many reasons I should shift to New Delhi.

Nalsar Batch 2004-09 babies!!

And a couple of my batchmates have become fathers!! Ola babies! They are our hotties for this month.

Ms. Tandin Wangmo (Good job Nima Dorji)

And more recently Ms. Kuenga Wangmo (Excellent work Ugyen Wangdi)

May the force be with them and the Gods always smile upon them. With all my loving to these beautiful ladies.

I have to watch

Enthiran - The Robot (poster)

Anyone with sub-titled copies?

Please to make noise.

Poster from here.

To bullfight, or not to bullfight

An estimated 13,500 bulls are said to perish each year in bullfights all across Spain. Bullfights are an inherent part of Spanish culture and is considered to be in danger from modernisation of urban thought and the acts of various International Animal Rights organisations which have been trying unsuccessfully to bring about the demise of this cultural bloodsport.

Recently the local parliament of Catalonia (which boasts supplying half the football team and the complete style of gameplay that won the World Cup '10) has voted in favour of banning bullfighting within its territories from 2012 becoming the only county in Spain to have done so. This was officially in furtherance of an international petition signed by 140,000 people calling for a ban on the 'sport'. However, many local political analysts believe that the same petition was ratified as a reaction to a Spanish constitutional court turning down Catalonia's 2006 autonomy charter earlier this month declaring that Catalonia was not a sovereign nation. A detailed report is available here.

While most of Spain regards such aforesaid ban as an attack on Spanish culture, animal welfare activists from around the world have lauded Catalonia for the same.

In what is good news for Spanish bulls, it is also to be understood that there have been generations of Spanish families and bullfighters who have studied, trained and practised bullfighting for centuries and have innovated and mastered techniques vide such long and continuous practice. Further if being a non-vegetarian is not considered cruel (and it isn't, the goddamn food chain exists for a reason...besides we were meant to eat meat...just ask any dentist) then how can bullfights be construed so. Especially when it gives the bull a fighting chance, no matter what the odds. Besides humans are an inherently violent species, where the law is designed to minimise the occurrence of violence with respect to other humans. It must also be kept in mind that the law does not equate any other species to humanity. Even the most endangered ones maybe destroyed to preserve human life. In such aforesaid context of global intellectual hypocrisy, can a tradition where violence is directed at non-human living creatures (which are not in danger of extinction) and one that has existed and evolved over centuries, so much so that it forms an integral part of local identity, truly be considered worth banning or doing away with entirely?