AWESOME
AWFUL
You would rather be awesome than awful?
Isn't an irony that (aw)‘some’ is great but (aw)‘ful’ is bad
Funny language ;-)
Friday, June 30, 2006
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Instance 1:
Where: X standard class room - History class in session
When: Sep 1995
Scene: The topic of discussion is reservation policy. The teacher is lecturing about why and how reservation policy was started in India. He is talking about why it is still in existence today – about the game of politics around it, about the reality of how well the policy is used or abused.
Now:
She can not seem to agree on how only a certain section of people could get critical benefits just by virtue of being born in a particular community. She does not find any reasoning pertinent to the present situation. She is not bothered about how it was ‘useful’ 50 years earlier when it was put in place, but certainly she feels it was a joke that had no benevolent relevance today. She feels cheated. At 14, in her animosity towards the Government, towards the people that make rules she hurls away her spite in words. She feels so powerless just to be taking on her teacher. After the class, she realizes her actions were futile and that her behavior was at best childish. At the end of the class, her teachers talk to her about her thought process, the truth in her reasoning, and the wasted energy in class. She is ashamed for her actions but she is convinced her logic and rationale was right. She certainly feels let down – a let down of an entire community.
Instance 2:
Where: Railway ticket counter, Mambalam, Madras
When: 1998 February
Scene:
She is standing in a queue that’s at least 10 people long before her and at least a 10 more behind her. There are almost 10 such lines. She has some work outside of that railway station. All of them are definitely busy or at least none of them are particularly enjoy the sweltering heat and the long lines.
Now:
Our hero, a well dressed 20-something man tries to push through the queue, get ahead of others in the line to get tickets. She gets extremely furious. Agreed, that he is not doing a heinous crime, but she feels cheated. A very daily misdemeanor that someone does everyday. But that’s no explanation. She cannot take it. She gets violent with words at him. At first, she says – “Hello Sir, It’s a queue. Please enter the line (showing the end)”. It does not seem like he is paying any attention. With a louder voice she repeats – “Hello Sir, Can you hear me? I said we are not fools here waiting in the line. Show some manners.” He turns around, makes some eye contact and proceeds with pushing the people again. She cannot take it any longer. She pats him on the back – grabs his attention and says – “Now will you please get away from here or shall I call the Superintendent of the station?” Now he is almost mocking at her. There are people buzzing in a hushed tone, some talking about her audacity and some trying to appease her and some trying to get him away. She reiterates “Move away, I am not going to let you get away with this”. Now there are more people talking. More and more physically making sure he is moved away from the line; many speaking ill of the man and many more trying to pacify the girl. Though he was gone, she feels unsure and jittery of herself. She could feel her blood boil, her tension mounting and suddenly she feels very conscious of herself. She talks no more until she cycles back home and recounts the episode. Everyone at home reprimands her; no one really approves her behavior. They teach her to be patient, to behave like a ‘girl’. She is just not convinced. She was sure that she would have felt worse had she let him cheat on her.
That is the real ‘She’, today her outward reaction may be different because of the certain cultural/civility influences, but inside she is still the same person. Patience has muted her, time has mellowed her; powerless sometimes, weak and incapable, she cannot take cheating in her stride. She believes, cheaters showcase scant respect for the cheated. There are people who cheat at all levels – right from the grassroots like the ones trying to jump the queue to the ones like self-proclaimed avatars that take an entire generation for a ride. It’s hard to witness the ones getting cheated, harder to get cheated and worst staying voiceless in times of such controversy. Conmen exist only as long as people are weak and fragile. Please wake up, recognize the cheaters and whip your share.
Where: X standard class room - History class in session
When: Sep 1995
Scene: The topic of discussion is reservation policy. The teacher is lecturing about why and how reservation policy was started in India. He is talking about why it is still in existence today – about the game of politics around it, about the reality of how well the policy is used or abused.
Now:
She can not seem to agree on how only a certain section of people could get critical benefits just by virtue of being born in a particular community. She does not find any reasoning pertinent to the present situation. She is not bothered about how it was ‘useful’ 50 years earlier when it was put in place, but certainly she feels it was a joke that had no benevolent relevance today. She feels cheated. At 14, in her animosity towards the Government, towards the people that make rules she hurls away her spite in words. She feels so powerless just to be taking on her teacher. After the class, she realizes her actions were futile and that her behavior was at best childish. At the end of the class, her teachers talk to her about her thought process, the truth in her reasoning, and the wasted energy in class. She is ashamed for her actions but she is convinced her logic and rationale was right. She certainly feels let down – a let down of an entire community.
Instance 2:
Where: Railway ticket counter, Mambalam, Madras
When: 1998 February
Scene:
She is standing in a queue that’s at least 10 people long before her and at least a 10 more behind her. There are almost 10 such lines. She has some work outside of that railway station. All of them are definitely busy or at least none of them are particularly enjoy the sweltering heat and the long lines.
Now:
Our hero, a well dressed 20-something man tries to push through the queue, get ahead of others in the line to get tickets. She gets extremely furious. Agreed, that he is not doing a heinous crime, but she feels cheated. A very daily misdemeanor that someone does everyday. But that’s no explanation. She cannot take it. She gets violent with words at him. At first, she says – “Hello Sir, It’s a queue. Please enter the line (showing the end)”. It does not seem like he is paying any attention. With a louder voice she repeats – “Hello Sir, Can you hear me? I said we are not fools here waiting in the line. Show some manners.” He turns around, makes some eye contact and proceeds with pushing the people again. She cannot take it any longer. She pats him on the back – grabs his attention and says – “Now will you please get away from here or shall I call the Superintendent of the station?” Now he is almost mocking at her. There are people buzzing in a hushed tone, some talking about her audacity and some trying to appease her and some trying to get him away. She reiterates “Move away, I am not going to let you get away with this”. Now there are more people talking. More and more physically making sure he is moved away from the line; many speaking ill of the man and many more trying to pacify the girl. Though he was gone, she feels unsure and jittery of herself. She could feel her blood boil, her tension mounting and suddenly she feels very conscious of herself. She talks no more until she cycles back home and recounts the episode. Everyone at home reprimands her; no one really approves her behavior. They teach her to be patient, to behave like a ‘girl’. She is just not convinced. She was sure that she would have felt worse had she let him cheat on her.
That is the real ‘She’, today her outward reaction may be different because of the certain cultural/civility influences, but inside she is still the same person. Patience has muted her, time has mellowed her; powerless sometimes, weak and incapable, she cannot take cheating in her stride. She believes, cheaters showcase scant respect for the cheated. There are people who cheat at all levels – right from the grassroots like the ones trying to jump the queue to the ones like self-proclaimed avatars that take an entire generation for a ride. It’s hard to witness the ones getting cheated, harder to get cheated and worst staying voiceless in times of such controversy. Conmen exist only as long as people are weak and fragile. Please wake up, recognize the cheaters and whip your share.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Does this happen to you?
Sometimes.. you acknowledge.. and surrender..
What you are doing is not what you want to do
And what you want to do should not be done
What should be done is what you are doing
Hoping what you are not doing will get done….
What you are doing is not what you want to do
And what you want to do should not be done
What should be done is what you are doing
Hoping what you are not doing will get done….
'Bombay' remains
Blood flows in a stream
From a body split in spleen
Until rain washes it away
Piles of flesh left to decay
Little children cry and wail
No one come to their avail
Wife loses her husband
Children miss their parents
Families go distraught …..
Morning rises in gloom
Smell of gunpowder
Sound of bombshell
Silence of weak groan
Clothing in tatters
Shelter doesn’t matter
Streets deserted
Houses ransacked
Dawn seems distant
Someone is pleased and content
Big money changes hands
Am meek and mute
And it continues….
From a body split in spleen
Until rain washes it away
Piles of flesh left to decay
Little children cry and wail
No one come to their avail
Wife loses her husband
Children miss their parents
Families go distraught …..
Morning rises in gloom
Smell of gunpowder
Sound of bombshell
Silence of weak groan
Clothing in tatters
Shelter doesn’t matter
Streets deserted
Houses ransacked
Dawn seems distant
Someone is pleased and content
Big money changes hands
Am meek and mute
And it continues….
Friday, June 09, 2006
I am almost sure that you ‘Googled’, for something in the last 24 hours. Man! Time to teach your kid ‘searched’ is the synonym to ‘googled’! Amazed how certain words make their way into our vocabularies. Wonder if Larry Page and Sergey Brin, then knew that they were instituting a new word in to the dictionary.
Used to have this term – ‘Infra-dig’ on the top of my vocab stack sometime in my early teens. I don’t know how it got in, but it was the in-thing (?) then.
Most of the people (if any) reading this blog will know curry, bungalow and veranda are words got transported into Cambridge from India. Did you know ‘Shampoo’ is one of them too? It is startling how only certain words cross civilizations make its way through pirated ships or royalty means into another one. ‘Shampoo’ comes from a Hindi word ‘campo’ meaning ‘to press’ and was originally used to refer a full-body massage, hair inclusive. It was a verb. As civilization grew and spread, ‘shampoo’ came to be referred to hair wash as both noun and verb.
I came across this term - Pious Fraud. I wonder how relevant it has become today. There are numerous men and women out there proclaiming to have mystical powers that have descended on this earth as a savior.
Hey holy men! Long live you, as long as weak minded escapists walk this earth.
Conmen will exist as long as people let themselves to be conned.
Last but not least, blog, its still not entered the MSWord Thesaurus. Coming from web log, weblog, and becoming blog! And then.. blogging .. then blogger.. now there is blogworthy, and then there is blogworthindex !!!!!
It’s only when a language is adaptive and lets itself to be abused, does it grow!
No, you got to maintain your language in its pristine state!
I give up!
Used to have this term – ‘Infra-dig’ on the top of my vocab stack sometime in my early teens. I don’t know how it got in, but it was the in-thing (?) then.
Most of the people (if any) reading this blog will know curry, bungalow and veranda are words got transported into Cambridge from India. Did you know ‘Shampoo’ is one of them too? It is startling how only certain words cross civilizations make its way through pirated ships or royalty means into another one. ‘Shampoo’ comes from a Hindi word ‘campo’ meaning ‘to press’ and was originally used to refer a full-body massage, hair inclusive. It was a verb. As civilization grew and spread, ‘shampoo’ came to be referred to hair wash as both noun and verb.
I came across this term - Pious Fraud. I wonder how relevant it has become today. There are numerous men and women out there proclaiming to have mystical powers that have descended on this earth as a savior.
Hey holy men! Long live you, as long as weak minded escapists walk this earth.
Conmen will exist as long as people let themselves to be conned.
Last but not least, blog, its still not entered the MSWord Thesaurus. Coming from web log, weblog, and becoming blog! And then.. blogging .. then blogger.. now there is blogworthy, and then there is blogworthindex !!!!!
It’s only when a language is adaptive and lets itself to be abused, does it grow!
No, you got to maintain your language in its pristine state!
I give up!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Words of Lord Krishna
vinasaya ca duskrtam ||
dharma-samsthapanarthaya |
sambhavami yuge yuge ||
Meanings
paritranaya--for the deliverance;
sadhunam--of the devotees;
vinasaya--for the annihilation;
ca--also;
duskrtam--of the miscreants;
samsthapana-arthaya--to reestablish;
sambhavami--I do appear;
yuge--millennium
TRANSLATION
For the relief of (My) devotees,
To annihilate the vice (and wicked),
To reinstate Dharma
Shall I appear, every Yuga.
Meanings Courtesy: Bhagavad Gita, As it is.
The Sanskrit Sloka Courtesy: http://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in/
Friday, June 02, 2006
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