Roll Call at School

Roll Call at School. Ever wondered what is its importance. It can change one's perspective to life. A person might end his life due to this seemingly innocuous roll call. What?? Take this.

Consider the case of a young boy whose name starts with 'W'. Cut to the first day to his school. He is all excited about this new world. He eagerly enters the class-room. Time for roll call. He waits and waits for his turn and finally it comes. Cut to the time he had his first son. By that time, he feels he wasted half his life waiting for his turn during roll call. He is determined to give his son a better life. He names him 'Aaaaaaaa' (pronounced Aye). He makes it absolutely sure that his son doesn't have to wait. By the time the son becomes young, he is totally distraught. He doesn't understand why everyone on the streets is calling his name (Poor Soul, he didn't know that Aye is a general means of calling out in India). He cannot handle such attention and soon gives up his life.

Consider another girl whose name starts with 'C'. She had her own share of troubles with roll call. She never had the added advantage students get by having to go later to viva voce's etc. She named her only daughter 'Zzzzzzzzzzz', again making sure that her daughter gets all the advantage. The daughter gets agitated at why her teachers fall asleep calling out her name (Teachers feels obliged to take a short nap every time they says Zzzzzzzzzzz). Again the fatal step.

Beware of the Roll Call....

Rain Rain Go Away

Rainy season is my favourite. But, too much of anything is not good. Bangaloreans are being subject to loads of rainfall. It has been raining heavily for the last 4 months, and more so this month.

Received a few snaps of the aftermath of these rains in mail today:
Snap of Hosur Road. Several software engineers, who work in Electronic City apart from other software parks, use this road daily.
Situation on Mysore Highway.
Railway Station.
Enough of rains this year. Rains go away. Come again next year.

The Movie Circle

I have watched 'Hulchal' on TV today. This is the first time I have seen the movie. It turned out to be a rip-off of the Telugu super hit 'Peddarikam', made over 12 years ago. Being an avid follower of Kappi-Man, the renowned wise man, who once said "There is nothing original in movies", I am not too sure if the Telugu movie was an original. So, let us settle on the fact that the Telugu movie was remake of movie X, which governed by the same law of movie-making would be a remake of movie Y, which... (Eh!! Are there movies made with a different story line at all??)

Imagine the tough job I have. I am an avid movie-goer, movies being a major source of my entertainment. I watch movies in four different languages. By the current trend, I would be reduced to the pitiful state of entertaining myself by watching the same movie in different languages.

A Selfless life

Let me first say something about my room-mates. For those who don't know, I share a flat with two other guys. I have been thinking of writing about them for quite sometime. Both the guys, with their idiosyncrasies, make our flat a fun place to live.

This is Rohit Kumar, a.k.a Muzu. He has been my room-mate for over 6 years now. We stayed in the same flat in Pune for 3 years, and then now at Bangalore ever since.

I don't know why he became a software engineer. He should have been a lawyer. Try arguing with him on anything under sun, and you will realize why I say that. I have given up arguing with him.

There is something else that makes him very interesting, and that is the amount of time he spends in self-admiration. He could give Narcissus a run for his money. Believe it or not, he applies over 5 different types of creams every day.


No. the topic of this post has got nothing to do with my roomy. Now, let me get to the topic in hand. Is it possible for someone to be selfless?? Everyone behaves selfishly, sometime or the other. I have lost count of the number of times I have acted selfish. We can only think of someone being low or high on Selfishness Index.

Aha!! There are one set of human beings who rank very low on this index. They are mothers. It is incredible to see how they put their children above them. They can sacrifice on anything for them.

Kudos to all the mothers of this world.

Freedom of Speech

Who am I??

What was the best part of the movie 'Spiderman'?? Special Effects? Action? There was something else in the movie which appealed a lot to me.

The movie starts with Peter Parker asking himself the all-important question 'Who am I??'. The entire movie is about the travails he endured while trying to find an answer. He finds an answer by the end of the movie, and the answer is 'I am Spiderman'. This aspect of the movie stuck with me.

I have tried answering the question several times, to no avail. I have been an achiever, farce, joker, freak, eccentric at different points in life. But no, I have never satisfactorily answered the question. My quest continues.........

Honest Intentions

Several members from my blog's female readership expressed shock and surprise at the previous posting (You know which one I mean). Some of them were embarrassed to read the post. I apologize to anyone who felt offended, although I didn't mean any ill-feeling.

I was mildly amused on reading the article sent in the mail. I might not have put my thoughts properly, but the posting was supposed to be humorous. Looks like I have failed miserably in my attempt to creating humour.

I will be careful next time around. Pardon femmes'.

Ogling Breasts Good for Health!!!

A colleague sent the above information in a mail today. It sounded great. Now, there is no need to struggle in gym. I can kill two birds with one stone.

After the initial exuberance, I decided to verify the validity. The excitement was short lived. The first hit on googling "Karen Weatherby", the researcher in the above article, revealed that this was a email hoax doing rounds from 2000.

Ogling Breasts Makes Men Live Longer

So much for the medical properties of female mammaries.

Quick Silver

Why do people beg?? Do they resort to begging when there is no other means of survival?? I honestly do not think so. It looks like begging has become a thriving industry. See for yourselves. On the streets, one gets a feeling that the numbers of beggars are steadily increasing. You are not given breathing space when you stop at a signal. They flock you from all directions and one has to shell out some money to escape from their constant perstering.

People, who don't have a will to fight, and who want to make quick money find this industry very lucrative. A few days ago, I read an article about a beggar who owns a couple of buildings. Still, he doesn't want to leave his profession.

Government should ban begging. They should allot some money (part of public money directed to their swiss accounts), to setup an organization which takes care of disabled/old people who have no one to look after them. There should be stringent checking that the deserving people are taken up by this organization. Ofcourse, I now that I am dreaming about an utopian government.

Watch out next time you give alms. See whether the person really deserves your support.

Bookshelf

I have now setup my bookshelf (see sidebar) as per my taste. I intend to provide information about the kind of books I read and what I think about them. The present bookshelf represents a fraction of my actual one. I have close to 100 books in my actual shelf. It will take a long time to add all of them here. I have made a start. Let us see if I have the energy to add all of them.

'Life for Money' or 'Money for Life'

A couple of days ago, I was having a conversation related to real-estate in Bangalore with my room-mate over dinner. Soon, the discussion entered into unwarranted territory. Ofcourse, the territory is money-related. Over the course of discussion, my friend categorically declared that he doesn't care about money.

Now, I wonder where do I stand related to money. Do I want to spend my entire life for money or do I want to forget about money for life. I guess neither. Having lots of money is great. At the same time, I don't want to make earning money the sole reason for living. Spend the time at work efficiently to earn lots of money, and party hard for the rest of the time. Carpe Diem baby.

My Best Shot

I had been to Munnar, along with a few colleagues, in April this year. We had put up in Mahindra Resort, thanks to the Himanshu's membership.

We were told there was a lake after a short trek from the resort. The trek was arduous and took around an hour. It was worth every bit. The lake was beautiful and the entire setting was mesmeric, as you can see from the photo.

I had shot several photos there. This was my best one. Enjoy the scenery.

Cricket Apocalypse

Wondering about the title. No, there is no connection between the two words.

Super Series between ICC World XI and Australia started today. It was a complete let down. World XI wasn't able to chase a paltry target (considering the heavy weights in team) of 256. They lost by some 90-odd runs. Mo was celebrating when Flintoff was out, not that Freddie could have done anything. Oh!! I haven't introduced Mo. He is my team-mate and an ardent Aussie fan. I am looking forward to the day when someone can de-throne the Baggy Greens from their Numero Uno position.

I have almost reached the end of the book, Apocalypse Now, which I am reading. This book is a first for me in many ways. It is the first Robert Ludlum I ever read. It is the first spy thriller I read. I should say I am not impressed by the book. It didn't manage to hold my attention for long spans of time. The plot was predictable at many places. I don't think I will pick a Robert Ludlum again.

Theory of Relativity

Kicking-off my blog with a note on my experiments with "Theory of Relativity". Since my 12th grade, I made several attempts to understand this masterpiece. I donot claim that Physics is my favourite subject (Mathematics takes that honour), but this didn't stop me from taking repeated stabs at this theory.

In today's TechTuesday, the topic of discussion was Theory of Relativity. I had gone to the presentation hoping that some of the secrets would be releaved. It started off on a great note. I followed most of the discussion. But, it took less than 15 minutes for my mind to wander away from the topic, as discussion moved outside the limits of my brain.

One more futile attempt. I hope to understand this theory some day.