An Indian We Should Be Proud Off

DISCLAIMER : This entry does not aim at publicising any TV show and ,only contains my personal opinion.

.I dont know how many of you people actually watch this program called " Makkal Arangam" on Jaya TV on Sundays 11 AM . My mother frequently tunes into it ,and since ,its right after the 10 AM Sunday Football Review on ESPN , i sometimes stay behind and give her company . Not that i am really interested, but ,timepass. But ,sometimes the show has really suprised me and made me sit up and take notice of a few people. This was one such day.

"Visu" , as you know ,is the host of this show . In most of the shows, he calls up people on stage , who he feels has exemplarily served the society in that town, in which the show is being conducted . Enter this person , i forgot his name ,so lets just call him "M" . I was waiting for the usual rigmarole and eulogy from Visu about how M had donated loads of cash to the local hospital , helped the poor and did some "x" Anna Dhanam's a week. But , what he said totally caught me unawares.

.M is a Masters Degree holder in Hotel Management from London. He is from Madurai and from a decent well -to-do family . He planned to setup a "Catering Institute" in Madurai after he returned to India. Well , all the best laid plans were set to rest, when ,he saw a mentally destitute and orphaned person ,eating his own faeces out of hunger ,in Madurai.

. Well how many of us , even bother to give a second thought ,leave alone a second look to these numerous people we see on the roads . I for one and many like me ,generally just move away from them. Well , M was so deeply affected by this incident , that he discarded all his plans and decided to do something to help these unfortunate ones. He setup what he calls his own "Balwaadi" where he cooks food daily for these people and uses his van to go all around Madurai city daily ,and serve these mentally destitute people twice a day. He does not stop there. He buys them new clothes , personally gives them a bath and also cuts their hair. M has certainly made me think on whether i have contributed ,leave alone,help to the society in any manner. Even if i had done, mine would pale out million times insignificant than what he has done. As M said towards the end of the show " Service to Mankind is Service to God".

The story does not stop here. Some self-respecting Indian did not want to leave M's activities go unnoticed. Hence, there was a documentary about M on "CNN's Heroes " .I believe this would have served him a great fillip , financially , in his daily endeavours.

"Here' s one Indian we should be Proud Off "!!! :):):)

Why We Should Hate MS Word???

.Me and my roommate spent close to six hours on his project report. Well , not because it had so much content ,cos , of a certain irritating software called "Microsoft Word". When compared to its cousin in Linux, "Latex" , Word looks almost antique. Well , both of us were literally playing , "connecting the diverging dots" with it . Well i believe the following are a few reasons ,why we should despise Word :-

1) Its American and is out of Seattle.
2) It doesn draw lines when you want it to.
3) Its the exact opposite of user friendly.
and so on...

Its the perfect killjoy when it comes to "Word Processors" . On searching the Internet, i found out i was not alone ,when it comes to tastes in Word Processors . Here are a few links you might find interesting :-

1) http://www.knowledgesutra.com/forums/Hate-Microsoft-Word-t20239.html
2) http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=129213
3) http://members.ozemail.com.au/~lbrash/msjokes/index.html

The 3rd link had me in splits .. Click on "Microsoft is a complete joke"...

Wish Bill Gates went through these links..

Let The Game Live !!!!

Please enough of this IPL!!!! Enough of this fracas !!! Enough of Lalit Modi, enough of Sunanda Pushkar ,enough of Shashi Tharoor and enough of dirty politics . All i want is too see Sachin on the pitch ,weaving his magic ,and i in an empty stadium ,being , priviliged enough to be the only one to see him play.

We just love Cricket for what it is , not for the glamour ,glitz or money .Nothing can beat a fired up Shoaib Akhtar bowling to Sachin Tendulkar. Its for these moments ,cricket lives and its for these moments ,passions exist . Please, let the game live!!!!

Why Should Not Men Cry???

This is the statement that has irritated me and angered me the most in life . "MEN SHOULD NOT CRY" . For fucking heaven's sake ,we also have feelings and emotions as much as everybody else . When a woman cries, its grieving , when a man does the same ' he's called a coward'.

The Two Women In My Life

I just dint want to leave the first day of my (proper)blog which just one entry .Don't ask me why because i dont know the answer. It's funny , because people blog when they have something to write about, today, its almost like i am blogging to think of something to write about .

I had always wanted a medium to just express a few of the million thoughts running in my mind on the two most treasured people in my life. I dont whether this medium or these words will justify what they have been to me. What will , i dont think i can never justify them ,for i believe you can never justify your mother and sister.

Both of them are so alike , so wonderful ,so amazing and to say that they are strongwilled is an understatement. My mother and sister never fail to suprise me with their attitude and how they look at the world. As my sister always used to say ' There's a positive in every negative you face in life ,it just depends on how you look at it ' . I dont think i can ever measure upto the levels she has achieved in life . I dont think i am even justified to write about my mother. I have never seen a more devoted and full-spirited woman in my life, and neither do i wish to see, because i cant imagine anyone else taking up my mom's pedestal. Well if you judge people just ,by, their academic excellence and scholastic ability , both of them are miles ahead . My mother a Doctor of Philosophy and my sister , a Distinguished Masters Student out of Pennsylvania State. Both of them are highly principled and doctrined. My mother quit her profession ,because, she felt it did not get the respect it deserved. My sister took up her profession as a challenge ,after a certain torrid time she went through . Though , both these acts objectively ,when viewed are diametrically opposite, i felt, these two situations ,just exemplified what they are.

Well just to suprise a few out here, my sister is my cousin and we are not blood relations. But the bonding we shared during our formative years cant be described. Growing up with her , is something i really want back , and i wouldn mind dying to get that life back. My sister had always looked at me the way one looks at a pet poodle , cuddling me ,showering me with love,affection ,care and protecting me from what went on outside in that dark ,dangerous world. Little did i know ,that she was one of the most fiercest and tough females around in the world. I still remember that incident. It was 1230 in the afternoon ,when she and i were waiting for the signal near Bandra-Kurla Complex on her Activa . There was this Marathi guy ,who came and said something umentionable to her in Marathi . I could not understand the language and , i never regretted that ,especially after this incident. The next thing i knew , she had hopped off the bike, kneed him in his privates, had his elbow in a twist and gave two upper cuts to his face. Frankly, if i had not gone to the bathroom in my home ,before coming out , i would have wasted all over my sister's vehicle .That was the feeling of pure , unadulterated terror i experienced at that moment . From then on ,it was never the same . She was just potrayed herself in a completely different light from then on . It was a feeling more than the deepest veneration , a person could experience . She was not my sister anymore, i don't know how to put it . Words still fail me , and the lump in my throat is starting to hurt now. I still don't where God gave her so much strongwill and so much patience , that she could get through what all she's been through. And the fact that she wont be there to wave at me , and send me off at the airport, when i leave abroad just brings tears to my eyes . Why the hell should she fly to Singapore just at the wrong time ??? I wish i could ask her this question , but , i think i already know the answer . A wonderful smile , a gentle rustling of my hair and a peck on the cheek.

.My mother , i dont think i can write about her. I dont think any son or daughter should write about their mothers. They have no right to do so. Feeding off their bodies before they were born ,and feeding off their breasts after they were born , i believe every one of us is tied to ,something which cant be described. Probably , sometime ,before i die, i would love to write about my wonderful mom. I am all what i am , because of her. I was born in her lap , i just wish i could die in her's too .That would be my last wish , if God feels that i have lived enough .

I thank ,you ,God , in whatever form you are and whatever name you take , " for giving me these two people " . Its one reason why i look forward to the next day, just to see their faces .

First Rant

Dont think anybody knows, how desperate i have been to start a blog!!! No a serious one, not a sports blog not a pop culture blog. A really , serious blog which acts a rectangular space to pen down my worst and best thoughts and be a witness to my crazy fetish for travelling and thinking. But you know what, i have never managed to sustain my interest in it beyond 2 posts. Bah!!! I never really knew why.

I always believed that writers are gifted people ,and are blessed enough to so beautifully put down their thoughts and still make sense. I have read blogs which have slapped me on the face, which have made me ponder and which have made me cry . But i really dint find that spark anywhere or in anyone to really start thinking about maintaining a serious blog. Dunno ,wat happened today, i was really affected by something.

It was an entry on 'molestation of women' in a blog that was frequently visited by one of my close friends. She had tagged that entry on facebook , and clicked on the link. It was one of the most hard-hitting entries i had ever had, and it somehow really had me disturbed. I could not put a finger on what it was. I believe it had reminded me of one of the worst low points in my life.Its the reason behind something which am not able to do now.

I did not know why .At that moment, i just felt like deleting every contact in my mobile, switching off my phone, deleting my profiles from social networking sites and just go hide inside a dark closet. You may feel i was paranoid!!! For you it was just a speculation , for me i was sure. At that moment, i knew that i had to write , write and write to just vent out my feelings and give way to those pent-up emotions. I know realized where 'great writers' are born out of situations.

If i ever see that person ,who wrote that entry, i just don't know how i will react. Thanks to her , i hope i can start off a meaningful blog , and look back at my entries everyday .

To the "Restless Quill" ,this blog is dedicated to you.