I thought I was my usual sunny self today till I read these quotes of Mark Twain ( from here - thanks to Paul! ). Lo & behold, my crabby self takes centerstage again. Guess the news of y'day which I blogged about...the second such rape in Delhi & the govt's bewilderment on the issue... still rankles.

Its a matter of sadness to read these 2 developments.

One, Delhi is setting a dubious record for itself in the matter of women being raped in moving cars! This is the second such incident and without effective deterrent action by the government - apart from the usual arrests etc - molesters will perhaps be emboldened to carry out this crime time and again. What next, I wonder? You would have perhaps read my earlier post on this topic where I proposed something very drastic & bobbit-ian (!!). I'm beyond being outraged this time....the only thing I can feel is glee. Why, you ask? Don't you think this just confirms the notion that our politicians in our capital city are a f*****g weak-willed lot, unable to take decisive action, in the face of such appalling events that would distinguish them from those who commit such dastardly crimes? The same politicians, who, when animals - so called 'national' ones - are threatened with extinction, what do they do? Set up advisory boards! Being sad is an understatement, I tell you.

When I heard it first a couple of years back, it prompted me to say "Sorry? What was that again?!"

I'm referring to the word 'Carpe Diem' meaning - in Latin - "Seize the day" i.e Today!

Its what prompts me to make the most of everyday inspite of all that is vexing - the killings, the pollution, the traffic, the apathy, the corruption, the low, low standards of our politicians, grim/ unsmiling passengers in an MTC bus, the filth at public places, the poor & the destitute on pavements, child beggars at traffic junctions, a cop's abuse of power ... et al.

Its also what makes me smile at mundane, everyday things - fresh decoction coffee, the warmth of sunshine, punchline of a cartoon strip, the innocence of kids, a mother's relief, the smell of jasmine, Vivek's comedy, ARR singing Vande Materam, Illayaraja's melody, Jyothika's 'muhurtham' saree promos, freshly laundered clothes, after shave, the silence of the night, Cadbury's Fruit & Nut...et al.

In short, attitude is everything. Happiness is what we create for ourselves. Today. There's no need to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. So, rise above it & enjoy your day! And above all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!!

;)

A press report recently mentioned that author J.K Rowling intends to go back to a life of "obscurity" after the final instalment of Harry Potter is completed.

Hmmmph! I wish that was funny but it ain't. I mean, with all those millions and millions of pounds earned by her in royalties, she could buy an island in the middle of nowhere and be as obscure as she wants. ;)

Mani Shankar Aiyar may be our oil minister

Once bitten, twice shy, as they say. Been there, done that. Credit card victim, that is. A mile's distance is what I now I keep between them and me. I don't ever hear of any credit card company inform you that if you default on a single payment, one could end up paying around 30% on the overdue amount, on an annualised basis? Poor I may be in math but with these kind of usurious rip-offs, even Richie Rich will be wary.

Thankfully, here's another good reason why I don't have a credit card. If I had, I would have gone crazy with some of the products - books, dvd's, site etc - on offer on this site. If you want some genuine reader reviews, this is one site to check out.

And so, imagine my surprise to know that Amazon.com is now 10 years old. The Amazon.com way book is a fav. of mine. I still have the Time issue where Jeff Bezos was voted Man of the year. I was happy to find them doing this : ' To congratulate our all-time top-selling authors and musicians, and showcase our bestselling DVDs, we are inducting them into our 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. Click on the links and photos below to read about our Hall of Fame musicians and authors, many of whom have provided exclusive stories, essays, and multimedia clips especially for the occasion.'

Should you be interesting in seeing who are the top 25 authors inducted into their Hall of Fame including guys ( isn't that a unisex word? ) like JK Rowling, Dan Brown, John Grisham, Stephen King, Tom Clancy, click here! Should you trip on Norah Jones, be in awe of Sting, like the way Santana sends tremors down your spine with his guitar playing etc click here!

Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta read what Robert T Kiyosaki has to say on the difference between employees and entrepreneurs.

Heed my words but I'm an entrepreneur just waiting to be born! Its just that I'm waiting for deliverance!

;)

With 9/11, the credo of 'me, mine, myself' took a solid hit. People ( read: guys ) everywhere in the U.S realised the fragility of life and the need for giving as well. Particularly, time to their spouses. Ya! And you know what that all begat. A baby boom.

Perhaps we can now expect one in the UK too. Doesn't one boom follow another? ( Not in India, mate...its been booming continuously, aint it? Ed!) Anyway, one section of people are damn happy, in particular. Pub-owners! Nervous Londoners are reportedly quaffing pints after pints of beer, like there is no tomorrow. And then maintaining their stiff upper lip till they reach home. Pretty understandable...after all, this is how they must have felt when colony after colony in the royal crown cut the umbilical cord. Hmmmph. Perhaps the previous generation was more resilient? The least they had was wave after wave of the Luftwaffe bombing to endure.

The above events have made me a bit circumspect too. I've suddenly become a little ...what do those accountants at Infy call them....hahn....forward looking. Here's my list of things to do tomorrow, if not immediately:

a) Learn a foreign language preferably French (How about learning Tamizh, you dummy? Ed!)
b) Learn to play the guitar
c) Visit Bali, Machu Pichu, Maldives etc
d) Learn the art of wine-tasting
e) Learn calligraphy

My better half too has got into the act as well. Here's a list of things that I better learn to do ( Note: En Vogue's -My Lovin'  is playing in the background ) while at home:

a) Learn to peel onions, chop coriander, make rasam, prepare buttermilk,
b) Mop the house
c) Keep newspapers in their place
d) Drink coffee AFTER brushing teeth
e) Stop snoring
f)  Hang clothes
g) Feed children

All this random writing is making me a bit listless...it is a Sunday after all..so I'll stop for now!

;)

Death and destruction continues its deadly dance. First nature gives us an indication of her awesome fury in Gujarat; now the savage beast in us humans rears its ugly head once again in London.

 

Peace and harmony is threatened, innocent people are maimed, lives forever lost, families orphaned.

 

Seemingly at will, terrorists have struck. It was Ayodhya a week back, its London y'day, and tomorrow - Washington? Will we see a repeat at Mumbai? Could it be Bali again?

 

And so, while Bush dithers on whether to stand up, sit down or just get the hell out, anybody who supported the US led war in Iraq is now a target by the jehadis.

 

In the midst of all this carnage, is getting 25000 hits on a website a big deal? Methinks not. I’d gladly trade it for those 40 lives now missed in London.

 

Heaven help us!

:(

2 days out of India and I wonder if we all get fuzzy-wuzzy in our thinking.

Take my cousin V for instance. She's just landed in Melbourne, finds it "very, very, very clean", "no pollution" and "not much of people!" Also a sample mall that she visited is "...3 times bigger than Forum" of Bangalore and is hardly hyped as much.

Yet, inspite of these initial impressions, she thinks there's no place like home and that India is "better anyday"!

This attitude, in my opinion, is perhaps reflective of the wide Indian diaspora which is comfortably settled abroad, makes lots of greenbacks, demeans the state of our infrastructure but does nothing about it and yet yearns all the time for "home, sweet, home"! This attitude really gets my goat. Over here, given our study/work/stressed out schedules, many of us hardly say hello to relatives except at family occasions/ hardly step out of our homes to befriend neighbours/spend time with friends/do social work etc.

Yet when we go abroad, our attitude changes.

We make tall claims of home being a place where "our culture is that of a strong, well knit community, joint family system a.k.a close family ties, arranged marriages etc" and is superior to anything else that there is! Instead of adapting to the place of our chosen destination, making friends, expanding our ties, understanding culture(s), embracing change whole-heartedly, we adopt an insular attitude and refuse to bond with the community.

Perhaps & only then, we can get over the loneliness - imposed or taken on - and make ourselves felt as truly part of a global community!

Just my 2 cents. I would love to stand corrected & welcome your thoughts on this issue.

:)