Today is a day of coincidences. The believer would say there are no coincidences. I wonder if there is much one can do either ways. What must be done, must be done. And weirdly I'm not alone in this one. Not alone, not today. Also a third one is there, watching over, or so I like to believe. Fuck you, bastard. You should have hung on a little longer. Then it could've been the three of us. Well now you'll just have to wait till we're done here.

Got me a new Ipod. Never thought I'd buy one, never felt the need to... but there you have it. Rather I do.

Last night was no fun. Tried getting high with a bunch of old timers, but there was too much going on. Inside our heads. Hence, too many silences. Left unbroken, yet coloured with knowing smiles. The blessing of being with old timers.

Been listening this song since last night. You keep me hanging on by JJ Cale. Its beautiful. Wonder what its like to feel that way. Bet its not as good as the song. Or maybe it is.

Have a nice day.

Too much work, too few chiquititas...

Encompasses my present condition in 6 words.

However, I have been reading ANOTHER fantasy series (this one longer than the last one I read...much longer) wherein I seemed to have developed the proverbial "hots" for this fishergirl-ascendant possessed killer-simply a hot bod assassin.

Which brings me to my Hottie of the Month.

Apsalar

And the festive season begins...

Dear Sleep,

I do not hate you. In fact I miss you more with every daaay! I know I sound like a Backstreet Boy, but what to do, I'll go anywhere for you.

The reason I've been giving you such less time is because my days aren't mine no more. They're rented to a monster machine that don't know you. Never been enamored by you. Never really tasted your sweet sweet breath. I know thats not your fault but baby you gotta understand. I work not just to fill my stomach, but because it is something I must do. Be gainfully employed they said. Do something! they said. So here I am. Doing me job. But in the pursuit of acceptance and credibility in an alien (and often abnormally stoopid) world, I have lost that which is most dear to me. My life.

Hence, in the darkness of the night when I'm all by myself, I fight to keep you away in order to live a little. Listen to 'em old tunes of rebellion and grey numbed pain; read about 'em wise kings, conceited gods, lustful queens, vengeful princes and the unnamed soldiers; stay awake a bit and spend some time with the person I love the most...myself; and lastly but nevertheleast smoke a sweet 'un.

So bear with me my love. Give me time, for that is what I do not seem to have no more. Be patient. Do not hold me back and quarrel like you do when I try to leave you in the mornings. For even when I push thee away, know that I still yearn for thee.

Love.

Me.

Of Corporate Arrogance

Facebook has recently started attempting to register the word "face" as its trademark with the United States Patent & Trade Mark Office (USPTO).

Technically, no individual may solely be vested with the exclusive rights on the use of the word "face", it being a common word in the English Language. However, Facebook's claim may be accepted if they are able to show that the word "face" has become distinctive in respect of the services provided by applicant by way of continuous use over a considerable period of time.

Now, it makes sense to apply for the mark 'Facebook' as a whole using the aforesaid arguments and the claim that 'Facebook' as a whole is a newly coined term using two English words in conjunction with one another, which were unused in relation to the given services of the applicant, and that tremendous cross-border reputation has accrued in respect of the same in favour of the applicant. In fact Facebook would be well within its rights to do so and thereby diligently protect its valuable intellectual property. What is unsettling however, is Facebook's insistence on getting the word "face" and probably later the word "book" registered in its favour. The effect of such registration is to say (loosely, depending on other facts and circumstances) that any instance of the use of the word "face" in relation to online service providers (regardless of the nature of such service) shall be held to be an infringement of Zuckerberg's great intellectual property that is Facebook. Notwithstanding the unwanted precedent it shall inevitably set which is likely to be followed by various other multinationals applying for exclusive rights on regular words of the English language.

So far, even without a valid registration, Facebook has successfully threatened and gotten a travel website to change its name from Placebook to TripTrace. They are also likely to initiate legal action against Teachbook, which is an online portal for teachers, for the use of the term "book". This reveals the sincerity of their intentions of following up the application on "face" by another for "book", probably using their first application as a precedent.

While it is unlikely that "face" will be granted registration one can never be too sure when it comes to financially resourceful multinational corporations. In any case such an application or claim is an example of a humongous ego and arrogance on the part of Zuckerberg & Co. that probably believes itself to be the sole reason for the existence of Law and not the other way round. I hope such arrogance is nipped in the bud by the USPTO.

Of Liberation

I have de-activated my facebook account. For the first time ever. The reason was simple and provided by one of those multiple choice questions that facebook keeps asking. It being "I spend too much time on facebook"... and might I add doing nothing at all. In my defence, its all this job's fault. I never really had the facebook bug and hence it made sense to be on it. Presently, I sign in after every other assignment on the pretext of taking a break. Hence, its time to call quits. Lets see how long this lasts. If my Quit Smoking campaigns against the self is anything to go by, it won't last long. But I'm hoping against it.

Eid Mubarak and...

... another bhai is about to bite the dust. The parents are gonna be meeting tomorrow, and well you know you know. The bhai and the probable bhabi seem to like each other though. Tons. That can't be too bad except for maybe the inevitable.

That's 2 down 7 to go by circa 2011.

The only question on everyone's mind.... WHO'S NEXT??

Yesterday

A man walked into Arambagh's Food Mart and asked for a tube of Fair and Handsome face cream for men.

Calcuttans, like Calcutta, never cease to astonish.