CSI and my fall.

And the earth shook. Nature wept. What for thou asketh? Well, thee slipped and tripped and ended up with thee foot underneath the refrigerator. The skin on my instep very decently gave way and showed me that I did have bones. And the first thing that comes to mind? Well, the second thing. The first was laughter and well, of course, wondering if that fall actually managed to make some cracks in my neighbour’s china. The second was my house being stormed by the CSI unit. I am a sucker for CSI, especially, CSI:NY.

Horatio and Grissom kind of make themselves seem very arrogant. I mean, they go a little overboard with their confidence, especially Horatio who sort of makes himself come off as know-all, which annoys me a tad bit. I'd probably rate CSI in the order of NY followed by Miami and then the plain CSI. The plain one is sometimes just that. It tends to get too dark, literally and quite "shady". Not in the creepy sense of the term, but somehow the lighting in it doesn't work for me. And as for Miami, that's quite happening in a way. Miami it is. But somehow it seems to be a little above the common-ness or erm, how about people-friendly..That's a better word. Where was I? Oh yeah, they aren't all that people-friendly. And way too many personal conflicts there. I suppose I'd like the detectives to be more professional and the people to be 'normal'. As for CSI:NY. Moi wubs it! :D. People seem real, the detectives are very professional and there are more funny dialogues in it than the others. Plus, they sort of seem to enjoy it more than the other two editions of the CSI.

God! It would've been a dream come true if a CSI:NY team did barge in and scrape my fridge stand for my DNA and re-construct my fall so to speak. That would've been awesome. Actually I did see it then and there how they'd actually go about doing that. The gloves ready and they'd swab the stand diligently while they put forth theories of what happened. And while they're discussing, each of their theories would actually be re-enacted with the help of technology. I am a FANatic! :D Have to hand it to them for bringing such a well thought out and fabulously executed series! Go CSI! (Esp NY!). I can be biased. :)

pooF.

PS: Thou shalt let me knoweth if thee has screwed up her thous and thees! :\

Intelligent Conversations and A Disputed Dream

I was having a conversation with my amigo about ‘intelligent conversation’. I firmly believe that every quality is relative and well, the supposedly ‘good’ ones can be as ruinous as the apparently ‘bad’ ones. For instance, optimism is good in a sense. You could keep seeing the glass as half full. But being overly optimistic has its pitfalls. You could so much believe in the half-full theory that somewhere down the line you overlook the reality of the other half of emptiness. There are instances when being practical is important. So that said, ‘intelligence’ again is Relative. Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton are prime examples of how one can cash in on the ‘dumb’ quotient. But then, they don’t really deserve being mentioned more than once.

The crux of the matter is how is it that you can manage to have an ‘intelligent conversation’? I believe that most people do gauge intelligence in terms of how aware you are of those ‘important issues’. Maybe if you knew Watergate and Perestroika you could be termed so. Or maybe how the FIIs are determining the course of Indian economy. And well, you’re definitely high up on the list if you can throw in a few quotes by Shakespeare or start a discourse on what John Donne meant when he claimed that “no man is an island”. All of that is very impressive. But I believe that unless you’ve something of your own to contribute to all those arguments, views and counterviews about the aforementioned topic it is quite, well, unoriginal. At least that is how I would like to measure intelligence. Maybe it is creativity. But ultimately, I suppose intelligence and creativity do stem from the same source. If Einstein wasn’t creative enough, I don’t think relativity would have been born. In a sense I suppose it is the ‘imagination’ at work here. Intelligence should be measured in terms of how you can come up with plausible theories about how things work. How you can imagine something to be, how you can assimilate arguments and derive your own.

In that sense, an intelligent conversation would be one in which you can fuel each others’ imagination. It is very easy to mug up a lot of facts and have a conversation centered around them. But when it comes to actually kick starting your brain, it requires conversations that make you think, that lets you see different perspectives and somehow manages to take you to a whole different level. For me intelligence would be defined in how one can actually sit back, look at things differently. A way we can stretch ourselves beyond the accepted limits of human imagination. And also, to have an ‘intelligent conversation’ you need someone who can compliment you on the other side. And from such a conversation arose this:

A disputed dream

Serenity blankets me today
in a world disillusioned
i have found my caffeine
reality is the drug that keeps me alive

in the never ending tussle
between yesterday and tomorrow
maybe expectations are to be referees
biased and prejudiced towards the latter

the next dawn teaches me about hope
peace could indeed be contiguous
And yesterday taught me about my disputed dream.

The credit has to go to Mr.C for putting the words “disputed dreams” in my head, so much so that I had to write this. Tanka!

pooF.

My controversial moment!

Over the past few months a lot of important events have taken place. Nah! I am not talking about me finishing up with my Masters, which in itself is an achievement, believe me! And neither am I talking about the other numerous tests that I’ve been breaking my head over with. They are all red letter days, but then only in my diary. And let us just say that I am not that vain (yet!) to impose those on others’ calendars.

What I am talking about are the following:

The Presidential Elections:

Not the Prez polls of the US of A, dummy! We have one at home. And well, we have decided to overtake the Americans in this regard. In all probability we are going to end up with a Madam President. We are definitely not going to miss the chance of rubbing it in. The largest democracy is going to have the first woman president and well, that’s one thing where the newest democracy will have to find solace in a mere second. And this of course, in a race run by just these two countries. And if one thought that the US presidential polls were glitzy and glamorous with their neat ribbons and confetti showers, well, ours is more exciting. We have been fortunate enough to have a wonderful President for the past five years. “A person who has filled us with a rare commodity-hope”, as a tv commentator rightly summarized his five-year term. But now, it is time for a change and well, a lot of names were fielded. And that’s when UPA decides to field a woman as a candidate. No one questions the right of a woman to don the role and neither her capabilities; for, if elected, they are yet to be tested. The whole controversy has taken epic proportions with every news channel having a debate with a panel of “experts” on a dais every half hour. News flashes and breaking news almost always deal with the Presidential polls. My vote would always go for someone who can do the job, irrespective of their caste, sex or creed. And that’s something everybody on television agrees. And that’s exactly why these recent ‘debates’ are a mockery of the whole process of the election of the President.

“The Americans, the so-called Big Brother, are fielding a woman candidate for the first time and we are here to make one before that.”

May I ask the above ‘expert’ as to what is the ratio of literate and empowered women in the US and India? How many Indian women can walk out on the streets at night without having the fear of being violated? And more so, the Presidential elections in the US is public voting and not so in India. Well, one can argue it is an indirect election done by the representatives of the public. But what about the above mentioned ratio??

“There is a need for someone with a political background to be a successful President.”

One name for you. Dr.A P J Abdul Kalam

Of course, everything comes down to politics. But there’s just one thing. Do not try to fuel feminist passions and sweep the other issues under the rug. Do not claim that we women are being ‘empowered’ by having a woman president. There are still a large number among us who still cannot spell ‘President’. There is still a larger number of us who do not have the freedom to voice their opinion in their own household without being battered, let alone spend time thinking as to who should be the president.

Mission Munnar:

Well that’s the name given, by the media, to the demolition drive happening in the resort town of Munnar in Kerala. Posh hotels and buildings have been brought down as though they were Lego blocks by mighty JCBs. There wouldn’t be a single Keralite who does not know the entire history of JCBs right now, who invented them, what it stands for, etc. The government drew a lot of appreciation for its ‘mission’ to drive out people who illegally took over the land and built profitable tourist resorts. But it equally drew flak when the CPI building was about to be brought down by the government aka CPI(M). Now that’s a comrade betraying a comrade. And what does the government who took credit for all the good work do? Pass the entire ‘flak’ on to the IAS officer in-charge of the whole operation. What does the officer do? He scoots off to Delhi and from there he will be visiting Kulu Manali for a nice family vacation.

Sunita Williams:

I admire the woman for the fact that she dared to be there for six months. I love the idea of being able to see the world and the stars from up there, but staying there for six months, alone? Erm. Let’s just say that I like my feet firmly rooted in the ground! But the entire hype about her in India just because she is of Indian-origin is annoying. Agreed, we need to take pride in what an NRI is doing. But dude! She is a NRNI at the moment. Non Resident Non Indian. The thing that is annoying is the fact that we tend to make her achievements our own. Just because her father is from India apparently gives us the right to a share in her success. These successes do not mirror ours. If nothing else, they mirror our failure to set our priorities right.

I did have a few other issues at hand. But, maybe some other time. I do not wish to be too controversial. Somehow, my hunger for 15 seconds of fame is quite non-existent, at least along these lines.

New Counter and Strangers!

First up, in case you haven't noticed yet, I got a new website hit-counter! Woohoo! So keep comin' back to get the face to smile at ya! Lol. I should try marketing as a career. hmm...

I've a new sense of direction too. But that is for another post.

I have never been a huge fan of Orkut. I was in it long time ago. Now I've joined again. A few folks in and I am not adding anymore. Don't get me wrong. It is just that for one I'd like someone send me a personalized email once in a blue moon than actually 'scrap' me an open 'hello'. The problems with that are aplenty. For one, you have to spend way too much time thinking of an appropriate reply. Of course, one cannot just go on exchanging hellos. So you come up with, "Hai, What's up?" or a "Hai, how are ya?" blah blah blah. Then it snowballs into this pseudo-conversation where neither of us wants to be impolite and not reply. So basically you're spending time on non-sensical data sharing and you ultimately put up too much of your self online. Now, I am not paranoid. But one thing that annoys me the most is the fact that certain people do not understand simple sentences like the one given below which makes its debut in my Orkut profile:

"Unless you're someone I've known in some part of my life or a friend of the former, please do not bother sending me friend requests or scraps..It saves you the time of clickin' on 'add as friend' and me the trouble of rejecting and deleting. You should notice that I cleverly dodged the Orkut question on what I'm here for. Now you know."

I am definitely not trying to be rude. But my parents told me not to talk to strangers! Lol. And the funny thing in all this is the fact that people do not understand the simple fact that you cannot make a conversation with someone who is not interested in having one in the first place. I have no qualms about making friends online. I suppose I have, with my blogs and such. But that's a connection that's borne out of exchanging writings rather than pleasantaries. So basically when you come in contact with someone through their writings you have already appreciated the persons thoughts and ideas; you have actually found some common ground or are at least impressed with the other.

But then, common sense is not common after all. ;)

PS: Hey Arun, thanks for the comment and make your blog available to the aam admi(read ME!). :) And hey, about the debate, throw topics at me! We'll indulge in that over here some time for sure! :)

pooF.

Isn't it Ironic, Don't you think?

I love that song by Alanis Morissette. It is funny that when you hear it, you go "It's SO true!!!". But you never thought of putting that into words now, did ya?

But today's irony for me is something from my own life. It is ironic that someone who had hurt me, never missed an opportunity to backstab me, was incessantly obssessed with stealing credit for what I did and all that jazz did something for me that was least expected. Maybe I am being a bit too harsh, or maybe it is 'cause I was really hurt. But, nonetheless, the irony that cropped up a couple of days ago is that the very same person inspired me. Haven't spoken to the person for ages. How did XYZ manage to inspire me? Well, with what XYZ has achieved. Somehow I missed the whole point somewhere along the way. In the equations of today's world, ends justify means. So at the end of the day, fairness is measured in terms of where you are at and what you have become. Everything else is erased automatically.

I am sure XYZ will not be reading this blog, but what the heck, Thank you!

pooF.

It's been a while.

Somehow for the past few posts, as in ones on Netlog counted, I've had sentences remind me of songs. "It's been a while" is a very good song by Staind. Pretty good!

But then, that's sort of trying to find a way away from the fact that I haven't 'blogged' for a while over here. For starters, it's very hard to manage two blogs. It would have been a different case altogether if I had

a) Two jobs and I blogged about one in each.

The problem here is that I don't even have one to start with.

b) At least two different aspects of my own life to blog about.

That ended when I finished my masters and ended up sitting at home, writing different sets of exams. What a way to suck all the fun out of ones life.

c) Split personality.

I admit that I am a nut, a crack, a superfabulously crazy person, but split personality..nah!

d) Multiple personality.

Yeah! I like getting too specific. Here, I'd have more trouble actually. Imagine remembering the login ids and passwords of all those blogs. Sheesh. But then, as far as my knowledge of these go (thanks to Hollywood!), I suppose each person would remember his id and password. I believe they don't form a trade union kinda thing. (I suppose I've validated my comments in (c)).

Sidenote: Why just Hollywood? Well, Bollywood hasn't, to borrow a popular term these days, matured enough to 'handle'(read copy) multiple personality yet. Tamil-dom(it's called Kollywood is it??) has. But bollywood. Nope. They are still experts in different causes and cures of amnesia, the most famous being: if you hit by a log and forget everything about self, get hit by the same log again. Well, on second thoughts, that's if you remember that you were hit by a log in the first place.

So after that long winded excuse about not being able to write a blog, I realise that this is good enough for a post. Heh Heh. Clever little monkey, aint I?

So till I come back with an even disjoint, un-edited and non-sensical blabber, so long mates!

pooF.

Whee!! How was the ride down?