Tagged after long

Tagged by Zephyr, so here we go. Actually doing a tag after a long long time! Reminiscing those old days when tags were common and it was fun doing the variety of them..

Current mood: Expectant

Current food craving(s): Pani puri at Haryana Chat Bhandar, opp High Court, Hyderabad.

I am searching for: some real good movie

I wish I didn't feel: well....

An observation about me: I think I need to be more involved and aggressive

Right now I would rather be: On a beach side enjoying the cold wind on my face!

A dream: To be able to root out corruption

In my previous life: Must have been a great person. I seem to dream about great things only!

I can be happy: Doing absolutely nothing for the entire day, switching channels and hogging chips! 

An oxymoronic thing I want: Fast and furious cars which do not pollute and drink less fuel!

I end up usually: sleeping

I am fascinated by: politicians; and politicians in the garb of sportsmen

A hidden ability: Can it remain hidden? I don't want to reveal classified secrets!

I want to learn: Italian Cuisine

My favourite radio stations: Vividh Bharathi, RED FM 93.5

My favourite part of the day: If its for sleeping, anytime!

My favourite colours: Blue, Yellow, 

A thing I could change about myself: My compulsive habit of procrastination

My favourite artistes: Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, Big B

My favourite poison(s): Nimbu soda, Masala Thums Up

I listen to: Old Bollywood music.. the older the better. Any other melodious songs with good lyrics.

I read: Sherlock Holmes & Robin Cook. Over and over and over again!

I watch: F1, Cricket, News and Youtube vids

A gadget I want: A 12MP camera touch screen walkman mobile with extended GPS

A gadget I want to replace: My nice LG 21" TV with a 42" LED HDTV

Current desire: To have the above two wishes come true!

Now, who's doing the follow up? Shruti, Shru, Nikita, Kash, Kachra, Swat?

If you are travelling by train...

Folks, if any of you are booked on a train over the next few days, just make sure that you confirm the departure timing of your train atleast a day before. From Nov 1, a new time table comes into place on the Indian Railways.

You can confirm the same by either logging onto the Indian Railway website or E-Rail, or maybe check out the online Time Table PDFs, Or call the Indian Railways Calle centre 139!

Have a happy journey !

Fun-da !

Being associated with the BPO sector can sometimes give you access to some funny moments. I work part-time in a medical transcription company training people from varied backgrounds in Medicine and medical terminologies.

When the company hires trainees, they are asked to give a test. A part of this is an essay which helps to show the candidates general knowledge and his/her language skills. This is the part which gives us some funny moments. No disregard to the persons who wrote the following gems, but these are indeed funny!

Al Gore and Pachoria will suffer a massive myocardial infarction if they ever get to know that Global warming is an essential concept developed by the Government to protect the environment!

Saniya(!) Mirza plays tennis with shutlies and coc?? Volleyboll played on the thumb? Sorry? And we knew that the IPL and ICL were ruining traditional cricket, but to this extent was not known!

PS: Click on the images to enlarge them

Deeptawali

Biwi wants to burn crackers this Diwali. She loves crackers.

I'm a huge supporter of a No-Cracker Diwali and have been practicising the same for close to a decade now.

Folks, kindly advise an amicable future course of action.

And yes, a Very Happy Deepawali to You All :)

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Here are 10 good reasons why you should have a Cracker-free Diwali...

10. Crackers are very costly.

9. You are encouraging Child Labour by using crackers.

8. Most of the shops you buy these from, do not adhere to the Excise Dept guidelines.

7. Crackers release a lot of Ultra-violet and Infrared radiation, which are harmful to the eyes and the body parts.

6. Diwali (Deepavali) is a festival of lights, not sound. Crackers can cause deafness.

5. Maximum number of Burn cases are reported in the Diwali season due to the improper use of crackers.

4. Humans might be able to protect themselves, but the crackers have a deep physical and mental impact upon animals.

3. Most crackers do not adhere to the Govt guidelines on Noise pollution and the sound of these crackers is above the permitted levels. In short, many are Illegal.

2. Levels of Air pollution, which are already high in India, reach astronomical levels on Diwali and can be very harmful to the human body.

1. Crackers and Fireworks are the single largest cause of respiratory diseases like Bronchial Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis and other Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases, and also a major cause of fright amongst the elderly which can lead to disastrous consequences on their health.


So, hopefully, you would have a fun-filled, beautiful and cracker free Diwali.

Sharon Stone

A lot of muck has been raised over the stone pelting incident involving the train Rahul Gandhi was travelling in. The cool blue LHB coaches of the Swarna Jayanti Shatabdi express that plies between New Delhi and Amritsar did suffer some damage, but then, thats not the moot point. Rahulji was one of the passengers in the train - not necessarily in the coach that was pelted though.

The image clearly shows the extent of damage that the window pane suffered. Rahulji was not at that window when the stone struck. Some other unsuspecting person, an aam aadmi, was. Does anyone bother to even find out whatever happened to that poor soul? NO. Why only Rahulji? Why not the aam aadmi?

Any regular traveller in the UP Bihar belt would narrate countless incidents of stone pelting. A travel between Solapur and Pune in the night would not be complete without the RPF (Railway protection Force) jawans asking one to shut the shutters. I have experienced this not once but half a dozen times. Not in a short time frame, but over a decade. The scenario remains constant. For more than a decade, everyday, some hooligans have been pelting stones on trains between SUR and PUNE. What the f*** have the police and other authorities been doing? Nothing more than asking the travellers to take evasive action!

A few stones on Rahulji's train makes national headlines and breaking news. Every goddamn journalist has something to say about it. Every police honcho wants mantris to stay away from the trains. Why? If it ain't safe for a mantri, how is it safe for the junta? A few stones have created such a huge ruckus. No stone is being left unturned (pun intended) in trying to nab those four hooligans who did the damage. But when for over decades the practice continues in a particular area, it is ok because its only the aam aadmi who suffers. I remember Naseeruddin Shah's character in that amazing film A Wednesday telling Anupam Kher..

"Aam aadmi se toh yehi umeed kee jaati hai,

ki aam aadmi ki tarah jiyo,

aam aadmi ki tarah bhukto,

aur aam aadmi ki tarah maro!"

A friend of mine happened to be a passenger in the economy class cabin of Spicejet the other day which unfortunately had Veerappa Moily showing austerity. All attention of the air hostesses was apparently directed towards the Mantriji and his ten chelas. The others were relegated to mere spectators in the two hour flight.

I have always had this query. Why is the aam aadmi ignored just to butter up some bastard who occupies a big gaddi or is a relative of one?

The title of the post is just to catch your attention !

Happy Birthday!

You are reading this because forty years ago, on September 2, 1969; the Internet was born!

So, to everyone here, A Very Happy Birthday!!

Towards Testing Times

For a connieuseur of the game, there is no better sight than seeing thirteen white flannelled gentlemen battle it out with the bat and the ball, The aroma of the leather granade whiffing past the helmeted and visored cranium or the turn and guile befoxing the striker and make him appear a complete buffoon is something that can gladden the heart of a purist in much the same way a silken glance past the fine leg or a delicious floor hugging drive through the covers will.

Much like how moronic cinema has outnumbered those wonderful classics, the slam-bang version of the cricket game has stolen a march over the traditional and more beautiful version. Yes, the T20 is like the oxygen bar where you get all the days requirement in one hour, but for you to survive, you need that twenty percent all day long rather than the hundred in an hour. The latter might be a tonic to give you more excitement and some fun, but for the game to survive, the pinnacle of test cricket should remain in the pink of health.

The Blonde Twister has penned a piece for the Times with his views to rehabilitate the dying spectacle that Test Cricket is. He has advised an abolishment of the full day variety of the game and advised a balance of Tests and T20 matches. He has advocated a three match test series and a five match T20 to be part of a tour. He also wants to curb the new menace of switch hitting. There are quite a few advocates to propose and oppose his views. Like every armchair enthusiast and analyst, I too have a few ideas which might help in making Test cricket not only reach its optimal health, but also make it enjoyable for the spectators. And most importantly, makes it interesting for the players.

• Do not completely abandon One day Internationals, ration them. Same with Tests and T20s. A new regulation should be in place wherein every team should be required to play a minimum and maximum number of games of each form of cricket. For example, each country should play atleast 15 test matches in a calendar year. And a maximum of 20 test matches per country in a year will be ideal. Similarly, 20 ODIs and 30 T20 matches would be an ideal bet.
  
• 5 match Test series. Two, three and even four test matches should be abandoned. Each Country should develop atleast 5-6 Test venues and each match should be played at a different venue. In case five different venues are not available, then a 3-match series should be organised with each match at a different venue. Each venue should be in a different city. Let us avoid a situation where Sri Lanka plays three matches at Colombo or Zimbabwe has two in Bulawayo.
• Sporting Pitches. We may love those flatbed pitches conducive to hitting for the T20s and ODIs, but one of the main reasons for Test cricket's downfall over the past decade or so has been the lack of sporting pitches. Also, individuality of venues needs to be appreciated. A fast bouncy pitch at Mohali might be ideal to acquaint the Indian youngsters with chin music, but the subcontinent is known for its turning pitches, much the same way the WACA was purpoted to be fastest in the world. We need to get them back to their original character.
• Encourage domestic cricket. Not just the IPL, the Pura cup, the Ranji Trophy and the English County Championship. Make it compulsory for all the big names to participate in a minumum number of domestic matches per season to be eligible for international selection. So if Tendulkar does not play five domestic four/five day games, he will not be eligible to face Brett Lee and Bil Hilfenhaus at the Gabba. This not only makes their game better, but also gives the first class players an opportunity to gain good exposure.
• Laxen the Bowling rules. Wides on either side of the stump should actually be wide. Give the batting team an option of selecting a free-hit or a free-run for a front foot no-ball. Allow chin music. The bouncer needs to reclassified as a ball above the head and not just one above the shoulder.
• Allow Referrals. Three failed referrals per innings to the bowling side should be allowed. The bouncer/no-ball decisions should be included in the can-be-referred list.
• World Test Championship. Have a biennial Test Championship and not just a ranking system. There should be a rolling shield for the same. Nothing short of an Award and a Reward can lure today's money-hungry system.

Lets see how these play up!

Negative inflation... My foot!

Probably only the prices of Oil have been on a plateau this year. Rice has been consistently a high rise tower while pulses have been the Burj Al Dubai on a price histogram. On one hand the Government makes tall claims, backed up by some crazy statistics and more eloquent press releases, that the inflation which had touched 12% has now gone two points into the negative. Total bullshit.

I'm not really sure what parameters are taken into consideration when they calculate the inflation figures, but I'm pretty sure that rice and pulses do not have a place on that list. A Nokia E71 which costed 20K a month ago is today sold at 18K and a Sandisk 4GB SD card which was priced 700 bucks in April is now costing only 500bucks. And well, I'll not even talk of the falling prices of LCD TVs. And if you are not satisfied, wait for another month. Dussera and Diwali discounts will then take inflation into negative double figures.

Yes, tomatoes which had costed 30 bucks in the summer (when of course the production goes down) are now 20 bucks and cauliflower is now being sold at 20 apiece instead of 25. Vegetables are taken for consideration when it comes to inflation, but more important pulses and rice seem to be on a low index. Two months back, Tur dal was sold at 50-60 bucks a kilo. Two years back it was priced 30-40 bucks. Today, it costs 110 bucks. A 300% rise in the cost within two years for a major food produce is not good for the economy. It shows that either the production has fallen or there have been induced periods of black market hoarding.

What has the Government been upto doing the entire process needs to be investigated. The rut started early in June and as half of August has gone abegging, apart from declaring food security as a priority from the ramparts of the Lal Qilla, nothing concrete has been done. Comfortably enough, the authorities are blaming the traunt playing monsoon for the mess that the food prices are in. Very understandable if they are talking of perishables like fruits and veggies. But what about rice and pulses? If there is scanty rainfall, then the impact should be in the next half of the year and not right now! The previous crop should be the one which brings the food onto the supermarket racks. It is absolutely clear that the price rise has been artificially induced by food stock hoarding by distributors to create a more paying market and thus encourage black-marketing. The Prime Minister has declared in his Independence Day speech that we have enough and more stockpiles of food supplies to last us even if the worst fears of the Department of Metro-illogical astrology come true. If that is indeed true, why is that stockpile being kept under a lock and key? Why is it not being made to come out into the markets?

One reason why the market physiology has changed are our altered buying habits. Traditionally, rice and pulses used to be marketed in bulk, where in most consumers (and the retailers) kept adequate stocks of these at home or at retail godowns. Today, the supermarket culture has taken over. I still remember my childhood when we used to go to the wholesale shops and buy those jute bags filled with 50 or 100kgs of rice and dal. Today, we buy a 20kg packet of rice (and sometimes even a 5kg pack) and dal is more often than not bought in 1-2kg packs. This makes the retailer also procure the same in lower quantity packages. The distributor thus holds the greater stockpile. And he sits on his stock shutting all supplies for a short period to declare an artificial shortage and in the process jack up the prices and make more moolah. On the other side of this distributor is the farmer, who too bears the brunt of this hoarding as the distributors buy the produce from the farmers at a lower rate citing lack of sales and increased stock reserves. So basically the end user and the producer are being taken for a ride while the distributor goes laughing to the bank. One reason why the authorities are unable to tackle the issue is the rampant corruption and kickbacks associated with the distributors and the politicians being hand in glove.

This has major adverse effects on our food production too. A farmer who has been traditionally producing rice now finds the costs prohibitive considering that he has not been getting good value for his produce. He tries to overcome this by giving way to newer crops like either the genetically modified varieties of rice or shun food crops and get into tobacco or cotton production. Or corn, which has a better export value, but has low usage in our own country. Or he burns his fingers trying his hand at growing vegetables. In the meantime, the soil too starts losing a bit of its sheen. The farmer might soon get visions of selling his land for a lumpsum amount to the industrialist who finds the place ideal to setup his car or mobile manufacturing unit, or maybe even to the government for a SEZ that gets planned.

I would not mind paying a bit more for my mobile calls or on my cable television bill, but when it comes to paying more than its worth for rice and dal, it cracks me up. If a person who can afford these high prices says so, imagine the plight of the poor person who has to struggle to make ends meets. At the end of the day, you and I can live without reading this blog or without seeing a Shah Rukh Khan movie on the 100 inch LCD home theatre system; but I need my dal and rice day in and day out. And I need that without having to pay a premium.

Patni Chalisa

Namo namo patni maharani

Tumhari mahima koi na jaani

Humne samjha tum abla ho

Par tum nikli badi bala ho

Jis din haath mein belan aawe

Us din pati khoob chillawe

Saare bed par patni sowe

Pati baith farsh par rowe

Tum hi ghar ki makasi

Tumse hi ghar satyanasi

Patni chalisa jo nar gaawe

Sab sukh chod param dukh pawe!

.

.

Disclaimers:

This is not an original work of poetry/ fact by the blog owner.

This is only a humourous account (of reality).

All indications to persons married or engaged are coincidental and not intentional.

If replies to comments or further posts on this blog do not appear for an unbearably long time, kindly inform the Punjagutta Police Station, Hyderabad.

Howzzat?

The new look Chai Biskut with Vrij is now online !

It still needs a bit more work, but the basics are all on. Do post your views on the new design.

Is it time?

Don't you think its time for a new template for my blog? Yes, indeed. So I've started once again taking something off the available templates and tweaking them to my requirements. I guess by tomorrow, the modelling of the same will be complete and it will be available for viewing!

All the blogs followed might not be visible in the blogroll initially, but give me a few days, and you will find your name on the blogroll!

Till then, you can do the following...

• Pray for some inspired cricket by the Poms :)
  
  
• Open www.irfca.org/gallery/openline and have fun oogling at those beautiful things featured there!
  
  
• Watch Sach ka Saamna videos at www.sachkasaamna.in
  
  
• Get your cameras out of the closet and take snaps of traffic violators, then post them on your blog.
  
  
• Count the number of times you swear in the next twenty seven hours. Have a glass of water for each count!

And if you still can't spend on enuf time.. count the seconds till the new template goes live!

Guntakal

Guntakal (GTL) is an important railway junction on the intersection of three busy routes in South India. The Chennai-Mumbai, Bangalore-Hyderabad and Hubli-Vijayawada routes pass through this place. In fact, this place was hardly a village till the Indian Railways brought it to limelight. Today, it is the HQ of the Guntakal division of South Central Railway, has a major Zonal Training Centre, a large Diesel Loco Shed and important workshops to name a few establishments. It provides a home to more than 5000 railway employees.

The sun sets behind the Guntakal station. The lines on the left come from Gooty,
while the line on the right, climbs down a steep gradient and veers in a sharp curve from Dhone!

More than the history and geography, its uniqueness lies in some very unique train operations that happen from the evening to late in the night.

• The Rayalaseema / Haripriya expresses run between Hyderabad-Tirupati and Kolhapur-Tirupati respectively. However, these trains run combined. In fact, they run in 6 parts from 3 destinations. The train starting from Hyderabad has coaches to Tirupati and Kolhapur. The train starting from Tirupati has coaches to Hyderabad and Kolhapur. The train starting from Kolhapur has coaches to Hyderabad and Tirupati. All these three meet at Guntakal just after midnight and a mix and match happens and the coaches are combined and sent to their respective destinations of Hyderabad, Tirupati or Kolhapur.
  
  
  The moon rises over the Guntakal-Gooty Line
  
  
  
• The Hampi express from Bangalore to Hubli has a part of it running to Nanded. This portion is detached at Guntakal, a single guard cum luggage cum second class coach is attached and a new loco takes this combination as the Bangalore-Nanded Express to Nanded. In the return direction, when the Nanded portion arrives at Guntakal, the guard coach is detached and when the consist from Hubli arrives, the loco comes and attached itself to the Nanded portion and goes back and attaches itself to the main train making it a 24 coach train. This then goes to Bangalore.
  
  
• The 4 days a week Vasco da gama-Howrah and its slotmate 3 days a week Hubli-Vijayawada Amaravathi expresses carry 4 coaches from either Vasco/Hubli which are destined to Kacheguda(Hyd). At around 5pm, these trains reach Guntakal, and are detached there. They wait till around 10pm when the Yeswantpur-Kacheguda express arrives from Yeswantpur. These coaches are then attached to this train and sent to Kacheguda. In the other direction, a similar procedure is followed but the wait is not 5 hours but a little close to an hour.

Apart from these mixing and matching of train rakes, quite a few trains passing through this station undergo a change of loco and almost all trains passing through undergo watering, cleaning and also have a change of loco crew, TTEs and the guard.

With a new Electric Loco Shed scheduled to come up here in a couple of years, expect this place to become busier! Nevertheless, its fun to be at Guntakal.. esp, in the evenings!

Aap Qatar me hain

Ceedy said this on facebook...

"When on hold on a phoneline in India they say - Aap Qatar me hain....... What if I want to be in say Jhumritalaya?"

The explanation for the usage of this tone is as follows:

Telephones are inventions of the western world. So, when they introduced phones in India, they could not get Indians to understand how to run them. So they pulled a wire all the way from Europe to India and located the backend exchanges there. Now, much like a single line railway section, you had crossing points where one could wait till the line gets cleared. If you note the map carefully, the Middle East lies approximately halfway between Europe and India's central provinces, and so the crossing point was located there. The exact location of the same happened to be in Qatar. The Saudi Arabian government offered to give free land for the same, but the Babus refused to have anything to do in deserts and so, the same was located in Qatar.

If there is more traffic on the phone lines, the calls were made to wait at the crossing point which happens to be Qatar. Hence the tone, "Aap Qatar me hain, kripya pratiksha keejiye" (Please wait, you are in Qatar)!

After Independence and the technological revolution, all other service providers changed their waiting tones, but Babus being Babus, they resisted any change and so even though the telephone exchanges have been relocated to India, still, even to this day, BSNL and MTNL subscribers get to hear "Aap Qatar me hain" !!



P.S Thought for the day: I've never known where the Telephone exchanges of private landline providers like Airtel, Tata and Reliance are located !

Biryani edges Bisi Bele Bhaath

What a match! And what a tournament!

Atleast if one is a fan of the Deccan Chargers, who came from being at the bottom of the table last year to take it all this time around! Kudos to Gilly and his bunch of dedicated fellas who did not lose hope and gave a tough fight to all their opponents. And a huge round of applause to the Royal Challengers for showing that you can come back to the top after you have had your backs to the wall.

But all the great work put up on the field by the cricketers was negated by the horrendous job done by the broadcasters. Ram Gopal Verma might just shortlist Mandira Bedi for the lead role in the sequel to his Bhoot. Gaurav Kapoor can easily replace the laughter track in any sidey comedy show. And Sameer Kochar was so good, that I actually missed Navjot Singh Sidhu.

When it came to Sherry and his 'Siddhuisms', they atleast conveyed some meaning and any linguist would be proud of the vocabulary used. Not Mr Kochar. Like being at the boundary before the start of the final and asking the spectators, " U guys here to enjoy the match?". "Naah, we have more fun listening to your Kocharisms!!" Seriously, why else would they have come to a cricket ground? To see a mujra or something?? (well, that too, what wid Kat babes going Jai Ho with her booty and bubbles!) Next up was the talk with Rohit Sharma after DC put up a meagre 143 on the board. RS explained that although the score did not seem much, it was defendable because the pitch was slowing down, showing low bounce and the spinners were able to get some good spin out of it. And then the next question was again a great Kocharism... "How is the pitch behaving like?" Now, did not RS just talk about it? What were you doing while he answered? Oogling at the cheergirls behind? And in a previous match, he mentioned that J. Singh replaced H. Singh in the DC line up and even had the guts to mention on air that he did not know what J abbreviated for!!!

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A couple of more things related to the IPL that interested me were the adverts. No, not the 'strategically' placed ones, but the regular ones. The best one is no doubt the Zoozoo series. They looked cute initially, but more than the characters, I loved the concept of each and every advert in the series. And exceptionally well executed. Vodafone (and erstwhile Hutch) adverts rock!

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Another wonderful advert that caught my attention is the Voltas AC advert. Great concept about the villages getting electricity if we use their ACs. I truly appreciate the brains behind the advert who made using ACs an energy-saving mantras!! Now all the mantris and their chamchas will have the "India ka AC" in their homes so that they can fulfil their election promises of giving power to the farmers. Even if they do not succeed, no one can fault them for they atleast made every effort possible by installing ACs in every nook and corner of their homes!

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Talking of mantris, I'll be the happiest person on earth when the Union Cabinet allocates ministries based on individual merit. I love SM Krishna, but for all his greatness, I still feel that Shashi Tharoor is the best person(and not just the best politician) in the country for the post, but they still ignore him. Sharad Pawar has probably allocated more funds to grow grass in cricket stadia than to farmers to grow rice in the villages. What nuances of the finance ministry does a law graduate in Pranab know? Why not get someone who knows the subject? The less said about the DMK tamasha the better. They probably provided more masala than the Chennai Super Kings did all month long.

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Coming back to the power situation, Hyderabadis have been facing one or two hourly power cuts everyday due to demand overshooting supply. But still half of the city was lit up with disco lighting to celebrate the Congress victory in AP. I mean, do you have any sense? Why the hell should we pay for your enjoyment?

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The weekend just gone by did nothing much to place a dent on the Brawn GP F1 car of Jenson Button, but it also showed that the Ferrari team were regrouping and had closed the gap to a certain degree. And hopefully in a race or two, will actually fight for the Chequered Flag! Yo Tifosa!

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GMail is awesome. It allows me to pick up my rediff, hotmail, yahoo mails and view them all in one inbox. Plus I can now have multiple inboxes on one page to view these accounts separately. So totally awesome. And yeah, the attachment reminder, Undo send, super labels and the many more labs features that can be added on! Google, hats off. Now, only if I could get my Yahoo and MSN messenger contacts on the same page...

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I was thinking of revamping this blog design. Suggest what base colour would suit it. And if anyone has a great template that gels with the theme of my blog, do let me know!

Rat-o-Raat

Borrowing the title from Sudev's comment on my facebook status message describing my late night adventures with the sweaky visitor.

It was a tiring Sunday night, almost about to hit midnight, when I spotted a small rat in my house. It was the second such sighting, the first was almost a year ago and had been effectively dealt with. Now this tiny creature was fast and made its way into the kitchen. Fortunately, it could not find its way onto or into any of the cabinets and so plonked itself under the refrigerator. Yours truly went into the war zone armed with a jhaadu amidst screams from the biwi! Shut the door behind me but did not bolt it, and that turned out to be a mistake. The nasty fella found its way through the small gap that remained and found its way into my bedroom. Holy thy me!

Searched all humanly reachable places and came to the conclusion that it was hiding below the bed. Now the newer types of beds have these cases to put your linen, etc below the plank and are closed from the sides. That leaves no room for mortals like me to search for absconding rats! Resigning to fate, dozed off to sleep.

Sometime around 2.30AM, biwi shoves her elbow into a sleepy me with a notice that the rat has been spotted trudging its way back into the kitchen. I would'nt have woken up faster even if a Ferrari F1 car was found at my door! I again armed myself with the jhaadu and re-entered the battlefield, ordering biwi to bolt the door behind me.

Now the modus operandi was simple. Get the rat out of the kitchen window. Could not risk getting it to take any other route. This chap was unfortunately too young to be able to reach the window sill which was about a couple of feet and a half from the floor. All it could do was run around from one end to the other and back under the fridge. There was no escape. Now, the fella was too swift to get him onto the dust pan and out of the window. So I used a small bucket and made it lie on its side at one end of the kitchen. Nearer the fridge, I kept an empty polythene carrybag (Thank you Spencer's) fully inflated! Used the jhaadu to get the fella out from under the fridge and go around the kitchen. It was going around from one end to the other for almost five minutes before it went into the trap! It found its way into the carrybag! In a jiffy, I was at the carrybag and lifted it off the floor with the rat in it and off it went out of the window!

The light weight of the bag would ensure a smooth landing for the rat onto the tarmac, whence he could continue his midnight adventures - two floors below me! And thus ended the Saga of the Midnight Rat...

Rivalry

It's quite funny when someone shies away from even mentioning a rival!

That is what is happening here in Hyderabad. With the Times of India!!

Have a look at these pages.. these are from the TOI epaper.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIH/2009/04/26&PageLabel=17&EntityId=Ar01700&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIH/2009/04/26&PageLabel=17&ForceGif=true&EntityId=Ar01705&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIH/2009/04/26&PageLabel=17&EntityId=Pc01715&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIH/2009/04/23&PageLabel=17&EntityId=Ar01700&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=pastissues2&BaseHref=TOIH/2009/04/20&PageLabel=15&EntityId=Ar01500&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

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Did you by chance happen to find the term 'Deccan Chargers' anywhere
on these pages/articles?

So what if the team is owned by its rival in the newspaper business
Deccan Chronicle? Does the team loose its identity? And does the team
represent Hyderabad? I was given to understand that it was to source
its players from Hyderabad, Andhra, Chattisgarh and Orissa. So why
this differentiation?

Bazaar

जब बेहरों का लगा है बाज़ार मेरे भाई...

तो क्यूँ चिल्ला रहे हो बेकार मेरे भाई !


..So said the TV Actor and part-time poet Rakesh Bedi. So true !

Wondering why ...

Wondering why...

... none of the political parties have mentioned 'local area development' in their agendas?

... none of the political parties have mentioned 'local area safety' in their manifestos while downplaying their opponents' anti-terrorism agendas?

... none of the political parties have talked about 'sustainable and scientific agriculture' in their speeches while doling out a kilo of rice at 2 rupees?

... none of the political parties have spoken a word about 'renewable sources of energy' like solar and wind power while announcing grand schemes of free power to farmers?

... none of the political parties have committed on rooting out corruption as a priority?

... none of the political parties have said anything about not giving tickets to criminal record holders?

... none of the political parties have uttered a word about propagating communal harmony in the population?

... none of the political parties have propagated the family planning mantra?

... none of the political parties have stated anything pertaining to abolishing the caste system of the society?

Some drama

As I write this the second test match between India and New Zealand has started at the McLean Park at Napier. Now this reminds me of the most amazing quiz that I had ever taken part in.

It was the Cricket Quiz we had at our college as part of the annual cultural programs when I was in the Final year. It was the first time this had been introduced and there were only two serious teams participating. The others just made up the numbers. Anyways, the prelims were written tests and as expected the two serious teams were chosen to fight it out for the prize. Umesh, Prabhakar and yours truly formed one of the teams._ Prabhakar and myself had just been a team who had thrashed everyone else in the General Quiz. We had 80+ points while the second placed team had something like 20+. A few in the audience walked away while others called it boring.)

The format was interesting where first a team 'bats', ie, answers 6 questions (an over) asked by the quiz master. Then their opponents 'bowl' at them, ie, ask a question on their own. The next round had direct questions and one could be safe or run out. The last round had questions with graded difficulty levels fetching you singles, twos, threes, four and a six!

Anyways, it all went superbly and straight down to the wire. The fours and sixes were extremely difficult and one such question that came out of the blue was directed at us. It just asked us where McLean park was located. I dont know how it came to my mind and I still do not know what made me answer that but I immediately shouted "Napier"!! Everyone was zapped at the answer and the quiz master acknowledged that he never expected anyone to answer that! Unfortunately we lost the quiz by 1 run!!

Going back in time, Quizzes were fun. Was runner up when in the first year, while the next three years brought victory! Not bad, eh?

Vote For ...

... Vidip Rai !!!

Unbelievably ridiculous!!

Sanjay Dutt has apparently appealed to the Supreme Court to dismiss
the cases and conviction against him because he would be contesting
the elections in the forthcoming polls for the Great Indian Parliament
!!

Did I ever say I was hypersensitive to politicians?

The End...

Can we safely assume that

•  International Cricket in Pakistan might not be something we would see for sometime?
  
  
  
•  Pakistan would now lose all solidarity from every single person who had even a shard of hope?
  
  
  
•  The International community now confirm that Pakistan is indeed a terrorist state?
  
  
  

Welcome Home.... :)

This is a post specially for our dear blogger friend Sindhu.

She has just joined a new company Genpact (I suppose thats what the BPO arm of GE is called!). I have something interesting to tell about this company. I have atleast 5 relatives who work in the company including two cousins. In our circles, GE does not mean General Electric but it abbreviates for Get Engaged!!

Yes, my cousins as well as the other relatives were unmarried prior to joining GE. Within a year of joining, they got engaged and are now happily married! See what a company can do to your marital bliss!

I'm sure that anyone who follows Sindhu's blog knows about 'her boss'! But lemme clarify that there is no truth in that story and it was just to pull her leg that I created it! And the entire blogville has had enough and more funny moments coz of it. I hope that with SIndhu joining GE, the boss episode comes to an end... and a new one (and a real one) does crop up!!

I'm 100% confident that Sindhu's status message would change to Committed/ Engaged/ Married in one year time from this day. Mark my words. Its not just me, you and the blogville thats in anticipation, but also Hyderabad's largest selling newspaper!! Over to you Sin...

Valentines Day

She: What are you gifting me this Valentines Day?

Me: Donno... lets see.

She: Do one thing.. just tidy up my sarees- wala almirah!

Me: Ok. What are you going to give me?

She: I'll arrange your almirah!

Me: Hmmm.. do one thing. You do yours' and I'll do mine, wat say?

Burglary in daylight

Just happened to visit 'Brand Factory' yesterday and needed to pick up some groceries and toileteries. The total bill came up to Rs 515. Apparently, under some scheme, if the bill amount crosses 500 bucks, you get a kilo of sugar for free. Great.

I generally check the bill for discrepancies whenever I shop at these stores, as invariably some errors creep in. This time around, it wasnt an error. It was simply terror.

A lot of stores bill the free item given and then deduct the amount as a whole as discounts/promos. Fine. These chaps went a bit further. They did discount those 24 bucks the sugar cost them, but they did it through a different process. They reduced between 3-6 bucks in each of the other items that I purchased!!

Now, what difference does it make?

Well, one thing I bought was the All Out mosquito repellant refill. Its original cost was 120 bucks for 2 units. The store has a discounted price of 102 bucks. When it was being billed originally, the computer showed the rate as 102. But after adding the free sugar, suddenly this becomes 96 bucks!

Two things here. One, the store pays less profits to the manufacturer in the name of giving more sale to the products. So, All Out looses out on 6 bucks from my bill alone! Secondly, sugar is a non-taxable product. All Out attracts 11% VAT. By transferring 6 bucks in my bill alone from All Out to Sugar, the store saves about 66paise on tax from my bill alone! Just imagine how much savings.. err.. cheating, these guys would do in a day.. and in a month!

From my bill of Rs 515, they saved say about 2-3 bucks. If their total billing goes for about 50K in a day, they siphon off atleast about 2-3K!! And I'm being conservative. Bloody fuckin burglars.

I'm actually tempted to go back, return that packet of sugar and get my 24 bucks back! And I'm sure they cannot object as it has been billed and not given free! If they do object, I can just file a police complaint.. wat say?

BTW, if any of u are interested in raking up this issue, I still have the bill with me!

As clean as a whistle

Ain't the Ozzies as clean as a whistle?

Pub or Culture?

Whats with our politicians and their sudden turn to morality now?

Whether its Gehlot or Yediyurappa, if they think that the pub culture is anti-Indian, they being the Chief Ministers of their states can bloody well put a ban on the pubs and discos. Or if they cannot ban them, then atleast they can curtail the timings of those pubs to something like 8 or 9 PM, what say?

Or maybe separate pubs for men from pubs for women?

Or probably, introduce prohibition once again!

That loosemouth Ramadoss now goes on record saying that the soon-to-be-born National Alcohol Policy will put an end to the pub culture. Good joke. He should probably look further than his home and office for the effect his ban on smoking in public has had! I dare Ramadoss to ban Alcohol and Cigarette sale in this country. I'm ready to lick his ass if he's successful in doing that.

Back !

Well.. sorry for being a bit... naah... quite a bit elusive for the last month or so. Haven't really been able to get the continuity of thoughts going for enough seconds to write a post.. although I do keep hopping by some blogs occasionally. And I just happened to be at Mia's where I read Aneri's comment on how we can just 'trash' out the junk that comes our way.

Although there was'nt much junk here, just the feeling that I was too busy! So, let me see if I can successfully trash that feeling over a sustained period. Anyways, since this post is completely impromptu... lemme make it something like an update post on what's keeping me busy.

•  Vidip's doing great and is on his way to become one big 'brat' ! The fellow is not even four months old and shows tantrums! If someone at home does not talk(!) to him for a day or two, he gives the cold treatment by turning his face away from them, until he's mollified by apologising to him profusely!!!
  
  
  
• He's turning around now and thats making us keep a tab on him continually, so that he's safe.
  
  
• On a different note.. took out time this weekend to make a short n busy trip to Bangalore. It was a fun trip. For attending the Fourth Annual Convention of the IRFCA (Indian Railways Fan Club). Two days of only railway related banter. Awesome fun! Since people know that I'm an avid blogger, it has become an unsaid duty for me to be the blogger at these conventions. I was blogcasting the event live for those fellow railfans who could not attend the connvention and were following it diligently from across the globe. Check out the blog at http://bnc2009.wordpress.com (BNC is the station code of Bangalore Cantonment Railway Station).
  
  
• The PM's hopefully doing great... but if he was diagnosed with 5 major arterial blocks last week, what the hell were his docs doing for the last few years? How did they let him develop those? Either it was the docs' or Mannu's negligence of his health!
  
  
• The Ram Sena attack on the Mangalore pub was indeed sad. It was sad to see the activists beating up and molesting the women who were at the bar. The news channels showed really sad visuals reg this. Now answer this. How did all the news channels reach the pub and were able to shoot the scenes way before the police arrived at the scene? And yeah, it was Mangalore and not Bangalore where one could expect the media to be busy. I have a small premise. The attacks were already planned and the media was informed before hand. Its a sad state of affairs in this country.
  
  
• The Aussie Open tennis is going great guns. Not too many upsets in the first week means that the second week should be fun to watch (or follow on the net)!
  
  
• Why the hell is everyone so hooked on that crapshit of a serial that Balika Vadhu is?
  
  
• I'd be back on Ambrosia very soon with something delicious!
  
  

Do keep a tab on this blog for the next post which would be a report of my trip to Bangalore! Cheers!

HNY 2009