Its the New Year!.....again

As the sun has set for the last time in 2007 along with many sad and happy memories, let us hope for a peaceful and successful new year where we will climb new heights, meet great people and be happier than we ever were.....





What rubbish!!!!



Its 31st December and time for the most overrated celebration of all times. And when an Indian says this, you know it says a lot. This is a day when the entire world comes together in a show of false harmony and peace for a festival which has little historic, cultural or religious base. Why the heck do we go crazy about just another change of digits in our calenders? Is it a historic event? Something that will change the way we live or give us a leader or personality to follow and cherish? A resounding NO. Some people like to argue that its a year gone by. Something which will never come again in our lives? Oh yeah? Then why not celebrate every month end? Thats not going to come back in our lives again, is it? How about the every day gone by? What about this very hour or minute, second, millisecond........ Are you going to spend thousands of bucks on these too.

Different cultures have different calenders. Consequently New Years do not lie on the same day for all these calenders. It is especially shameful for us Indians to make such a hue and cry about a celebration prescribed by western calenders. Can you name the Hindu or Islamic New Year? Most probably not. Yet we hardly think before getting carried away by the false excitement of the occasion.

New Year Celebration is nothing but a very clever marketing ploy by the big MNCs so that they can make huge profits by selling their goods to innocent people who think that they can spend because it is a time for celebration. That is why we have all TV, Radio etc channels blowing this thing out of proportion. They are being paid by these MNCs to create a false positive atmosphere where people will be careless and less thrift. And looking around today tells you that they have been very successful!!! Not only have they managed to fool the young and wild but also the old and wise! For eg. even my dad is going out to celebrate today--------please spare me a moment for ventilation of frustration--------Ok. I am back.

Instead of going gaga over such a pointless occasion we should perhaps be more concerned about the more important things in life, like poverty, environment, war, engineering exams, rising oil prices, shrinking glaciers etc. People in Somalia do not have enough to eat whether it is 31st December or February. The bullets are still flying in Iraq. The party your are gonna attend is going to add to the CO2 in the Atmosphere and further Global Warming. While you are so happy some people are studying right now. Get A Life. Do something more worthwhile than spending hard earned money on frivolous things and bankrolling big MNCs.

I say we boycott this insane event and thus foil the plan of the rich few. Show them some real people power. Do not attend parties. Do not wish each other by spending on calls and smses. Do not buy stuff advertised under so called 'New Year Special Offers' (its probably old stock anyways). Shut your doors sit by a table and study or do some office work. You will be supporting a major cause for the thousands on poor children rotting away for their upcoming examinations.

There is much more that I could write on this topic, but these people probably believe that there is no such thing as negative publicity. So I am not going to give this marketing conspiracy any more blog space. Just remember if we are to win this battle you must resist all temptation. So as soon as its 12 o'clock and people start wishing you make sure that you educate them properly about the gravity of the situation and recruit their support.


Wishing you a Crappy New Year.




Please note that the above article has been written by a person who is sitting at home writing a stupid blog when everybody else is out enjoying themselves. So please forgive him for any bad language, ideas and conspiracy theories. Please go ahead and enjoy the night and let him drown in the myriad complexities of Electrical Networks. Wish you all a Happy New Year and a rocking 2008. Have Fun!

Rebirth II

If you have not read 'Rebirth I' then I suggest that you please scroll down and read it first. It will give you the background of this rhyme. I know it is kind of long, but I think if you can last all the way to the end, it will probably be worth it. :-)


As Engineers they shall be reborn
And all joys from their lives will be gone

Scores of Entrance Tests they shall give
And despite the results they shall grieve

Scatter they will from Institution to Institution
But not get admission without substantial Denomination

But their penance will start only after Admission
And curse they will, the Day of Creation

With the elite among sinners I will be even more severe
For over them the Devil himself will sneer

Exams he will grant them and for months they will last
Vacations will be meager and over fast

Fabulous Holiday plans he will overrun
And all excitement into frustration he shall turn

Failing will become reality from lore
And the Devil's Number will be '3 dozen and four'

Grades they may get lower than any before
And yet over the moon they will sore

During light they will languish in college-confinement
And the nights they will spend with journals and assignment

The Devil will use all his mite to make them suffer
And safer will seem the fires of Nether

And never will these sinners know who really holds them guilty
Because, the aliases of the Devil includes Mumbai University

Coach in a Coarse Country

Old habits die hard they say, but with our great Board Of Cricket Control in India they never seem to die. The only thing other than money, the BCCI has plenty, is controversies. And it seems like their motto to generate new ones every few weeks. The latest of course is the sudden catapulting of former South African player Gary Kirsten as Team India Coach.

I have always felt that the role of the coach in the Indian team is quite murky. With so many prima donnas in the team, can we really expect anybody to listen to the poor guy. Greg bhai tried to impose his own Australian style but..... well that requires another post. In any case he walked away with truckloads of cash, free publicity and also got a job right here in India. Not bad for a failed coach.

Well then the BCCI, in true rambo style, started off on a global man-hunt for finding nothing less than the best coach available. Looking at Wright and Chappell's Bank statements it was not surprising that many applied. But comparing between candidates and shortlisting does not agree with the BCCI by-laws. Whats the fun without some confusion eh? So we got new candidates becoming favourites everyday only to be declared out of the race the next day. Special mention must be made of Dav Whatmore, The guy had coached Sri Lanka to the World Cup. Then he made a great job out of the fledgling Bangladeshi team and whose achievements included the rout of India from WC 2007. Obviously too good a choice for team India . Allegedly he was cut off the list for being too eager to join a group of highly talented players backed by the richest Board in the world! Wow! How could he! Next please.

Anyways, then came the man who equalled BCCI in back tracking. The former South African coach Graham Ford. The dude did have some credentials and he wasn't too eager to leave his last job. Perfect! BCCI offered him the job, a nice place to bunk and a salary to make us wonder why so many people in this country don't have basic sanitary facilities. Only one catch though -- he wasn't too eager to leave his last job. With business acumen to shame Ambanis and Tatas, the South African renegotiated his salary at his previous workplace, got a raise, stayed in his own country and escaped the brickbats he would have eventually suffered as Indian coach. Very slick. And a slap in the face of BCCI worthy of K-soaps.

The slap virtually knocked out BCCI cold for a few months and it did not dare to show its face on the coach finding scene again. Until last week of course. The newspapers screamed once more. BCCI was hiring. And every Tom, Dick and Hari applied. Of course the BCCI had improved now. It had learned from its past mistakes and was gonna have a clean transparent induction procedure for a good experienced coach. Yeah sure. So we got Gary Kirsten. A man who apparently hadn't even applied for the job and was not on the original list of prospects. His coaching experience, or rather the lack of it, is suspect. He cannot join the team until March 08 and apparently he holds our country very high among the backward nations of the world where 'there are more cows on road than cars'. Of course the BCCI had to choose him.

After his tour of India in 1997 he had made some very interesting observations about the overall traffic and hotel status of our country. Also he recommends that you have a very good sense of humour if you are going to tour India. Thank you for your kind suggestions Mr. Gary. I am sure the BCCI will forward them to the respective authorities. But may be we should not be talking about things you said ten years ago in the heat of your youth and career. There was no way you could have known that you were going to have to earn your pension here. Hopefully the BCCI will give you a nice car which you can gleefully wreck on our substandard roads.

Actually since the team is currently doing pretty well without a coach, I guess Mr. Kirsten need not worry much about coaching at all. May be he could use his tenure, however short or long, to research the cattle population of the country. The agriculture ministry could use it. Also it will be good material for his tell-all book at the end of his reign. It will be definitely be a laugh riot after he has fine tuned his sense of humour while coaching in India. I am sure John Wright and Greg Chappell will agree to be co-editors. Chappell will be especially co-operative since he has been a victim of racial abuse in this country. Sorry Chappell yaar! Hope a few lakh dollars, a house and a high paying job at a Rajasthan Cricket Academy is compensation enough.

Well buddy Gary, just in case your are going to make Mr. Chappell your role model just take a piece of advice from me -- always keep your fingers to yourself.

Rebirth

The Saints of Heaven marched to Him
Troubled they all did seem
With folded hands at His feet they lay
And the most pious among them stepped up to say:

"Oh Lord, spotted have we
An anomaly we would like you to see
Because as one shall sow, so will he reap
This balance you strive to keep"

"But the Courts of Earth are never just
The powerful are punished only if they must
In jails only petty criminals we see
While the rich sinners roam happy and free"

"Yet identically, both by You, are punished
And to the depths of Hell banished
But why should the petty suffer two times
When the rich have committed similar crimes?"

His face gladdened with a smile
And at His subjects he looked a while
Then his melodious voice filled the air
Full of love, affection and care

"Oh My children, valid are your concerns
By your thoughtfulness you have earned an explanation
The matter you put forth, I did not overlook
For long before Creation, did I moot"

"Yes the powerless sinners are punished twice
And on earth the influential escape with vice
Both to the Dungeons of Nether are fed
But for the latter more punishment lies ahead"

"Since the petty have suffered on Earth in their life past
Hence on Earth, the rich will suffer when they are recast
Equally the powerful shall pay for the caused grief and harm
Hear My Children: As Engineers they shall be Reborn"

:-)

Ironies for an Engineer

In the time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez found Love
In the time of Exams I found this:


Would we cherish life without fearing death?
Would we know love without vengenceful hate?

Would shade be comforting if the Sun came seldom?
Would we enjoy if there was no boredom?

Could we be happy without knowing sorrow?
Could we lend without someone to borrow?

Can we know success without taste of defeat?
Can we value trust without facing deceit?

But everything in life has an exception.
Because we would have definitely loved passing without examination

:-)

Ringing In Of The New Times

Essence of the World is Change
Nothing forever remains the same

The good turns to bad, the bad turns to good
Changes the seasons changes the mood

Love turns to hate, Joy turns to sorrow
But a new day will rise tomorrow

The changing tides you and I must endure
Because the quirks of fate we cannot cure

So as the dolphin emerges and the puppy goes to slumber
The Point is: I got new cell number

:-)



This little poem marked the end of my tryst with Hutch (now Vodafone). After about 4-5 months of exploitation by the over-hyped service provider, I finally decided to ditch Hutch (now Vodafone) and turned to the alternative that my mother had unsuccessfully insisted on right from the start, the good old Governmental Dolphin.
Well, some of you might think I am a cheap person to switch from the international Hutch (now Vodafone) to apna-gavthi Dolphin. But with 50ps SMS, 90ps Dolphin-to-Dolphin calls, great GPRS connectivity (if you win the battle to get it activated) and practically no hidden costs, I don't care what you think!
Also there were some concerns whether I had actually written this poem and not just plagiarized from material I encountered on my endless sojourns in CyberSpace. One particular person (code name AS) all but made me swear on the Bhagvad Gita that I had written it. Be assured that this comes 100% from my brain. But it made me particularly smug that at least two other persons used this piece of literature to announce to the world their denouncement of old Cellphone numbers.

I am thinking of charging royalty now.