Manly enough

Guys this has been a mail doing rounds in the mail chain list in the last week. The difference is the protagonist is a real man working in Infosys. I am not even changing the name. Have a look at the innocent chain. The beginning of the problem:

Hi,

I had parked my bike outside the infy MLPL gate, near the HP building, bcos the parking was full in MLPL. At 6.30 pm, i saw my bike. Somebody had broken my helmet lock purposefully. now it's of no use. Whoever has done it, pls reply back to me on my email id. you can pay back the helmet lock money and installation charges(approx 350/-)

Regards, N

Here a few people get back to him:

Wish we lived in sucha society where the culprits surrender themselves and own up their mistake … Looks like you just got to planet earth … Be happy ur bike was still there with both the wheels intact JJ

Regards, S

The Hero replies again:

95% of the ppl who park there are infoscions. I have felt bad about the incident. the inner part of the helmet lock is made of metal. That guy has used all his energy to break my helmet lock into 2 pieces. If he is such a man, he must be manly enough to admit his mistake and pay for his mistake. that's why i hav told him to reply to my email id. I hope atleast he learns some lessons from japanese who are so humble and down to earth now. It's left for him to choose the right path.

regards, N

It’ not over

Pls do not crack jokes on such matters. imagine, if the same things happen to your bikes or cars. will u crack jokes at that time. pls do not divert the topic. That guy was not a robber. he was just insane. he was angry, i guess. Atleast he could have kept a sorry note and the money for a new helmet lock in my bike cover. (Then, I would hav thought, wow, what a human being.)

regards, N

And another question for him:

What if he would have kept a sorry note and money and someone else would have stolen that?

Here comes the reply:

Our robbers are not so intelligent. And the guy who has broken my helmet lock is not a saint.

We had a great laugh when my friend forwarded this out! Hope you guys will enjoy it too

Fond Memories on Holi

My blogger friend Rachna did a wonderful post on Holi. I couldn’t wishe her back as I was too late to read it.

I am not quite sure why, but we south Indians are very vary of the festival. First of all no one is sure about what the festival is about. Only thing we know is there are lots of colour being spattered.

I first witnessed Holi when I was in college. One day a truck load of seniors rushed in. they started throwing the colours around. I was dumbfounded seeing all the cacophony. After all the mayhem we realized the real intentions. We boys were the least affected. The girls came out with lots of colour on their soft, chubby cheeks. The best part was the good looking ones had a multi-coloured rainbow on their boobs. The seniors came in hordes and grabbed whatever they could lay their hands on. Some even had the guts to go down to the butts. This day provided them a license to feel and vandalize the beautiful creatures.

All my years I never really understood why the girls didn’t feel like complaining. Well, I am no saint. After getting over the ‘fresher’ tag, I too tried my hand in getting a handful. But I was too shy and frightened of the prospect of getting jailed. So I didn’t stray far from the cheeks.

Worse, the colours were so cheap and irritating that days of shampooing never got it out of the hair. The irritation stayed on for days in the skin.

We used to hear the stories of how people are rolled through mud water during Holi. So while we were returning from Goa, we faced this predicament of coming across the Holi people. We got down at Margao bus stand and were walking to the railway station. We made double extra sure to avoid any loonies on the way. Then out of no where a dude came with colour. We begged him in broken Hindi.
‘Bhaiyya please! Saman haun. Yathra…’
He coolly said not to worry and did a blue tilak on our foreheads. That was a license to go unscathed. As soon as we reached the station we washed it off.

Nowadays I am too eager for the day after Holi. Our masala sites put up the third page gang celebrating Holi drunk and semi-nude. For them Holi must have some different idea.  Sure, Holi gives me a high!

Another boring analysis on the Indian Quarter chances

These days every three out of four Indians will be busy predicting the outcome of the impending quarter clash for the cricket world cup. Thankfully this time there are no upsets and the expected teams made through to the quarters. Still there were some unexpected outcomes confirming ‘the glorious uncertainty’.

The world cup means a lot to every country. So every team put in their best player and everyone gives in all he has got. The only exceptions would be India and Pakistan. The best thing I love about New Zealand is they have very limited resources. But in every game they put in their very best. All the 11 player can bat, bowl and field.

India once said to be the best spin doctors in the world are left clueless this time. No wicket comes from the finger twisters and the worst part is they aren’t very effective in containing too. But then none of the bowlers barring Zaheer looks good. I have hated Nehra and Munaf all my life. It’s surprising to see Indian selectors consider him as a world class palyer. The most suitable quote for him would be ‘’Much ado ado about nothing’.

Speaking about that, it’s quite surprising that India has gone back to the formulae of three good fielders and 7 below standard. There has been no sign of interest to improve all these years. We will have to see this in light with fielding standards in other countries. I think India will have to enforce basic fitness and fielding as selection criteria.

Although batting hasn’t raised an alarm bell, it would be interesting to see how the middle order fare against good teams if the early birds return to their nest early.

Overall , India were supposed to win hands down before the tournament kicked off. But now doubts have set in. Dhoni has been too late in realizing that some of his plans may backfire. Still I would say he has been one of the best captains India ever had.

As for me I would prefer Pakistan going away with the trophy. It would be interesting to see all the shocked, disappointed faces when the arch-rivals win the trophy in Mumbai.

Celebrate Tsunami

During the regular weekend match I was standing guard on our post. A momentary lack of concentration led to ball crashing into my right palm. My brain numbed out as I cried in pain. I lost all sensation in my palm. It was real painful for the first two days- to brush, wash, bath, checking your blogs. I had to eat digging my head into plate as I couldn’t lift my hand.

Over the same time, in other part of the world, people went through much pain and trauma. Huge waves crashed into the world’s most powerful economy and swept out lives and structures. For the giant tsunami waves all were nothing but toys. People around the world watched in shock and awe, watching the might of nature.

For journalists and photographers this is a festival of sensations. The gruesome photos were enough to send us to tears. A lost dog, old man, doll or a pair of shoes can fetch them a couple of international photography awards.

Even in the face of such a calamity there are people who reap harvest of joy and déjà vu.

The doomsayers: The world has never been a great place to live in. it had its own share of wicked men for ages. So attributing the calamity to evil may be a bit stupid. A revenge monger God is worse than humans. The way I see it is, the world has become smaller and the bad things get quicker publicity. But claiming this generation is the most evil, is an insult.

There are people who enhance their personal aura by ‘I told you so. Now you are going to be the next’. There are some preachers who predict the impending doom with ‘exact’ dates. The crux is no one goes back to question his failed predictions.

The stock players: This category is occupying considerably annoying section of the Indian population. Leave alone tsunami, even if he hear the news of his wife eloping with the neighbor, the first thing he will do is to check the impact on Sensex.
The first reaction on hearing their tsunami is going to be, ‘So how did Nikkei close?’

The bounce backers: ‘Watch out dude! These guys are going to come back in tow years’ I just can’t believe this. People lose their loved ones. There is an impending nuclear catastrophe. They lost their life, livelihood and savings. The Japanese resilience is admirable. But it would be an insult to say the Japanese stands for just efficiency, electronics and automobiles
You may be able to rebuild the structures. But the scars would remain.

Record Revenues

Infosys technologies is one of the biggest software firms in India. It grew out of the Indian borders into various parts of the world. If my information is correct Infosys employs more than 100k+ people worldwide.

The success story of Infosys is projected in parallel to the growth of Indian economy. Infosys and its fabled leaders are highlighted at each and every opportunity by media. They are the brand ambassadors of Indian growth story when a foreign dignitary makes his visit and it seems a visit to the Bangalore facility has become mandatory element of protocol.

Then there is also values, culture and integrity story sold out lavishly. The leaders who refused to bribe the politicians, the manager who gave his father’s funeral a miss, the charity events organized around…

I have a handful of friends making their livelihood at the Infosys. And I get a few juicy stories which the ‘Shining India’ media missed out.

Very recently an American employee of Infosys sued the company apparently because his Indian colleagues were being paid less than him. Now don’t ask me why the Indians didn’t do the suing themselves. You know the depth of Indian guts and the strength of our spine.

An Infosys centre decided to give their Big Boss a parting gift before his retirement. They decided that the centre will earn record revenue for the quarter. Now how do you earn record revenue? By billing the client more. How do you bill them more? By working overtime. So employees are asked to come on holidays to earn the ‘Record Revenue’ gift.

Now when we talk about labor exploitation, it’s not just for the labor intensive sectors. The neo-method of exploitation is against the white collared professionals. They choose to remain silent for crumbs of money. Hence the unorganized and volatile sector reaps huge rewards for the bosses. Then we have been taught labor unions are behind all the evils of our country!

ICC world cuo 2011- A shamble show!!

‘Greed is evil’, ‘Greed is cancerous’ we were taught thus in our Sunday Schools. But Gordon Gecko said otherwise, ‘Greed is good’. But here is a group of people who are practicing this art in one of the premier event of a sport, ‘cricket’. Whether it is going to be for the good or evil, time will tell.

Cricket is played professionally only in a handful of countries. Out of that only a few know to play it decently. So in terms of logistics a Cricket world cup is the easiest one to organize. Still there is a twist here. People responsible can do it decently or can do it profitably. Striking the balance; lies the success.

During the 80’s and early 90’s cricket and Bollywood were the quick ticket to fame and money for the Indians. But as the decade progressed and we entered the new millennia cricket became the richest sport thanks to collective spending of a billion people with no other sport to claim their own. Presently the International Cricket Council is entirely controlled by India and let’s take a look at how we are running a world cup.

I take a look at the schedule sheet and am surprised to learn that every other country plays more often than India. Indians are lavished with a seven day holiday between each game and they play only on weekends. Now is there a coincidence?

India may not have an athletics stadium but do have cricket stadiums all over the country. With a vast population raring to break into the top XI and huge sentimentality involved, it’s quite natural. But I am ‘bowled over’ when asked for a reason why the premier stadiums have been ignored and the game concentrated only in a few. Did the ICC cum BCCI president reward his loyalists?

Now speaking of the stadiums, it would be a dream to watch one ‘live’ if you are a ‘common’ man. Gone are the days when galleries were cheap. They are damn costly and even if you are willing to part with your hard earned cash, you may not find a ticket. Almost all the tickets are sold off as quotas to the powerful, who in turn sells it in black. Ok, you buy the ticket ten times its cost, still you may not be able to enter the stadium until half the match is over. Even then you may have to watch it on screen thanks to the scientific construction!

Now you decide that watching it in the comfort of your home is worthier than hours of sun. But the match is watchable only in a select group of media. DD, the supposedly national channel has no highlights even during the News. The commentators are unbearable and so are the match analysts. As the match wears on the sponsors are eager to squeeze in an ad in every second and now there are pop-up kind of ad that get onto your nerves.

Now to beat it all- Give me a good reason why it takes one and a half months to finish the WC when FIFA takes lesser with more teams?

(Well I decided to write this 'cos whoever I talked to shared my opinion but no one writes about this!)

Gay

So hope everyone are doing fine. The past week has been pretty hectic for me, thanks to some unrealistic schedules and mismanagement by the Manager. It has been pretty taxing. I appreciate the people who take up the pressure day-in, day-out.

This subject has been there in my mind for a pretty long time. I was talking to a friend when he told me about a real life incident involving his doctor friend in UK.

The doctor friend was there in some council in UK which determined the eligibility of a couple who applies for adoption. It such happened that a gay couple applied for adoption. The doctor friend opposed it and openly said that she wouldn’t support a gay couple growing a child. She was the only one in the council to oppose. She was soon removed from the council and life became difficult for her to practice medicine.

What do you think? Do we support gay rights, just because it has become fashionable to do so. Long ago Paul wrote against prevalent homosexual practices in areas surrounding Greece. Soon church demonized homosexuality. There is no denying that hierarchy of church was free of perversions.

It was not just Christianity- Judaism and Islam too abhorred the practice. But with the dawn of new era of liberalization, the dogmas has been thrown up in the air confusing the lay man of his beliefs.

So what do you guys think? Is homosexuality a choice or something natural that comes with your birth? If it’s a choice do you think there is anything at all called freewill?

If you are a supporter of homosexuality, is it because you are really convinced by it?