Routine Post

You thought I would be gone for long, yet I continue to surprise ...

• The Jaundice case is closed. Or so I thought. It seems that I have to be careful for many months to avoid relapse. And for that I have to start eating home food (why do you think I fell sick at the first place). As I never learnt to cook, except the occasional maggi and sandwich, my mom will not only be teaching me but also helping me set up my kitchen. Wonder how the cooking experiment will go, given my lack of patience. Maybe you will see me in the next Top Chef.
  

• I finished reading the book called "Know Your Body". Published long long ago by Reader's Digest. Quite a simple yet enlightening read. Other than informing me about my innards, it repeatedly points out the most known yet ignored thing to keep your organs in shape: exercise, quit smoking, keep a balanced diet, don't be tensed. As my guitar teacher once aptly said, "All the information is available (on the internet), it's the application which is lacking."

• I usually don't talk politics, but this one stuck out: the Congress' austerity drive. Shashi Tharoor's comments were highly irresponsible for a politician. Not just the "cattle-class" traveling, but also his reasons on why he didn't stay at Kerala Bhavan: he needed privacy and a gym. Also that he had already blogged about it days ago, thus the matter was closed. Mr Tharoor, it's the Bhavan of the state of whose capital's MP you are. I'm sure you can do something about its issues, rather than complain about it and shrug your shoulders. Also, maybe you should stop tweeting, as it's really not helping you in any way. With regards to the austerity drive itself, I'm undecided. Although the skeptic in me says that most likely they are acting in a penny-wise, pound-foolish manner.
  

• Today I was reminded of an incident which happened an year ago. I was trying to get to Bangalore city station and, as is the case in Bangalore, none of the auto guys were willing to come (or ply only at exorbitantly high rates). One guy though stopped and also agreed to follow the meter reading -- despite the fact that it was "one and a half time"! Five minutes into the journey he says "Sir, please don't feel bad or angry, I want to play a game just to pass the time." Curious of what this was, I agreed. The game was nothing but a series of questions, to which he wanted ultimate answers. I only remember a few of his questions (in all there were 10):
  • Who are you?
  • Where are you?
  • Where are you going?
  • Where do you want to go?
    

  I wasn't in any philosophical mood at that time (rarely ever am I in that mood), so I gave the most obvious proximate answers (Rohit, Bangalore, City Station, City Station). Our fellow was, of course, not impressed; repeatedly telling me that these weren't the ultimate answers.
  

  I look around today with all the people facing quarter-life crises, asking the same questions and not being satisfied with their answers.

Stop thinking. Move forward!

Design our money

The Indian Government wants to have a new symbol for the good old "Rs". Not surprisingly a lot of countries have special symbols for their currency. I guess we just didn't want to be left out. The government has asked the country for help, so maybe even a two year old's squiggles might just turn out to represent "the historical and cultural ethos of India".

But it's not that simple. Interesting points from the government notice.

• Interested persons may send their entries, along with a bank draft of Rs.500/- (Rupees five hundred only) in favour of the Pay & Accounts Office.

• The symbol should represent the historical & cultural ethos of the country as widely accepted across the country.

• The final selected symbol shall become the intellectual property of the Government of India and the designer shall not have any right over the same.

• Five entries shall be shortlisted for final selection. The shortlisted Designers would be required to make a presentation to the Jury and would be awarded a prize of Rs.25,000/- each.

• The Designer of the finally selected design will get a prize of Rs.250, 000/- and would be required to surrender copyright of the design to the government of India.

Economic times has done its own designs and is asking its reading audience to vote for them or contribute their own. Next I think, news channels will do the same and ask their audience to vote through SMS. Maybe MTV can make a reality show, auditioning artists and designers. It will have drawing tasks, puking tasks, kicking your own balls task. There will be vote-outs, people bitching about each other, bitch-slapping each other, giving out the choiciest of Hindi gaalis. Aaj Tak may end up covering the reality show. Who knows?

Practically speaking whatever they decide the symbol to be, it's not going to be the "$". So well, I can't really type it from my keyboard with a simple keystroke. I guess I will stick to using the good old "Rs".

What do you wanna do this weekend?

If you are in Bangalore, you have quite a few alternatives:

• Be scared of going out, because you think the Sri Ram Sena goons will embarrass you and marry you off. It won't happen, but you can always give this as an excuse and enjoy a movie and a cold beer at your home.

• Go celebrating in pubs as part of the "Pub Bharo" movement to thwart Sri Ram Sena. Which is not that special. I mean what do you do on weekends anyway?

• Participate in the "Pink Chaddi" campaign. Donate a chaddi to Sri Ram Sena.
  

• Rock the weekend Iron Maiden style. I'm sure that we will see a lot of head-bangers from outside Bangalore coming for the concert. This should surely help the "Pub Bharo" movement at least.

• For the computer programmers (respect to all the geek bros), we have the Yahoo Hack Day.
  

• All couples who can run: you not only have the advantage of escaping when being chased by our friendly neighbourhood Sri Ram Sena, but you also have a chance to win fancy Nike t-shirts. The Nike Run Club is conducting a 4k couple run at Cubbon Park at 6 AM. Check it out.

• Or you could go see the Aero India 2009 aero show at Yehlanka.

Unfortunately I can't do any of the above. I'm off to Pondicherry to take of some running business.

Mumbai attacks: What happened to Pakistan's response?

The Indian media seems to have gone to sleep on the issue of Mumbai attacks. They have got more entertaining characters like Pramod Muthalik whom they are focusing and trying to direct the fury of the youth. IPL also seems to be captivating.

I think it has been clearly established that terrorists from Pakistan were behind the attacks and the Pakistan government had agreed to take action. But what action is being taken? What kind of pressure is the Indian government putting on Pakistan to take action? I don't know and seems like the media doesn't care. If you don't believe me check out the news sites.

How easily do we let things go?

Every year we see:

1. Terror attacks.
2. People dying in the east due to floods.
3. Farmers committing suicide in Andhra Pradesh due to draught.
   
4. Blue line buses killing pedestrians and cyclists.
5. Rich brats driving drunk and killing people.
6. Train accidents killing people.

When it's so easy to predict, why do we see it every single year?

As far as the hindu extremist groups are concerned, I think they should be banned. Nothing more, nothing less.

I have seen at many places where people argue that the people in these groups are cowards and they aren't fighting terrorists, who are the real danger. But think about it, do you really want them to fight terrorists? Do you really want non-state actors to be striking across the border? Aren't you just engendering a new terror outfit, just this time it will be in the name of Ram?