How Could She Kill Him!!

How could JKR have killed such an important character in the Half Blood Prince? I mean he was not such an important character in many of the previous books, but I am sure in the 7th book that would have made a surprise element and imagine reading through an interesting duel between Voldemort and him. Of course Voldemort would have killed him anyway then, but just imagine what plot that could have brewed. She has lost an immense opportunity for herself I'd say.

But at least I am happy for Ron - he need not be afraid again of him, and for his sons and daughters - at least they can eat whatever and indeed whoever they want now. I hope one of them succeeds in eating Percy. Or maybe some death eater if they can take a bit of Felix Felicis. Or maybe even Harry Potter or Voldemort if they gulp the entire bottle.

signing off,

Don't You Just Hate Yourself ...

... when you know that you have been cheated, and moreover you know that you could very well have avoided that if it wan't for the utter carelessness from your part. That's what happened to me over the weekend.

I go to fill some gas in my bike, ok. There are two guys at the filling station, one with the cash and other with nozzle. The one with cash distracts me. Now I know he's doing that, because he's too obvious. But I don't care to look at the starting zero. And yes, the other guy hasn't reset it to zero. He starts from 50 and I get only 50 bucks worth. I realize it immediately when I start my bike. But the guy says (I know why he is smirking) that he has filled in whatever I paid for and I should get the fuel indicator checked. The vehicles behind me are honking now and because I have to rush for other appointment, I don't argue much. Just cursing myself I leave it.

I can't, can't, can't and just can't forgive myself for such stupidity. Maybe the world isn't fair enough to assume things. Or maybe I was being too thick.

signing off,

Abe Chirkut Harry Potter ...

nku bhai: Just to remind you that I have preordered your new book and you better hope that it stands upto my expectations. If not, I hope you have a good insurance.
Harry Potter: Why?
nku bhai: Have you heard of one Mr Salman Khan lately? He is apun ka gaonwala.

Ok, jokes apart, I am as anxious as you for the Half Blood Prince. I hope the website delivers me the first copy on the same day.

And as long as I am dreaming, I would like a pony.

signing off,

Fights 12 Teeth

"Fights 12 teeth and gums problem", reads a carton of a toothpaste on one of the shelf in Food World.

"What about other teeth I have?", my friend's complaint.

You tell me, how do I explain this to him?

signing off,

Pointerboy?

If this lady can be a datagridgirl, then why can't I be a pointerboy?

Notwithstanding the fact that, the amount of stuff I know about the pointers might be same as the amount of stuff this datagridgirl does not know about the datagrid.

signing off,

Hobbes

Albeit the weather out here is awesome and it is quite luring you to get on the roads, the actual experience once you get there is a letdown. That's what happens everytime I take my bike out and travel approximately 20 km to my office in all dust, smoke, exhaust, noise and utter chaos.

My friend dis here has a solution to all this. He says, why go 'out' in the first place? He is more like Hobbes, you see. At least like this Hobbes: {click to enlarge}

signing off,

PJ of the Afternoon

Q: Why are Indian husbands "Silver" while their European and American counterparts "Gold"?

A: Because of their wives.

E: Indian wives call their husbands "Aey jee", while European and American wives call thier husbands "Hey (h silent) you".

PS: If you still don't get it, imagine you are a wife (I said just imagine) and call out your husband as explained above. Still no? Recollect your periodic chart then. Now if don't know what is that, then I am sorry, can't help you.

signing off,

Me

Take a look at the picture in the right hand side frame in the 'About Me' section. Can you see it? Good. That means your vision is not affected.

If you enlarge it, you may find me lying there nearby a boy and wondering why on earth someone would want to take his snap.

- The Rock, December 2002.

Prologue (from nku): The text above is a part of the very short autobiography of the rock on the Viewpoint (as it is called in those circles) which is on the way to Munnar, Kerala; as told to the boy in the picture. Complete book is ready now, but no one is keen on publishing it (reading the lines above, I have little doubts as to why). So he contacts me because he has heard that I am a rock fan. So I allow him to write something here.

Epilogue: I give this guy the publicity amongst my 2 readers for which he waited almost 3 years and he is wondering about my photos? Genuine admee ki kuchh value hi nahi hai yaha pe!

signing off,

Some Enlightenments to Make Your Day

* Courtesy few of the fellow countrymen, who were having lunch at the same table as mine, obviously unaware of the fact that I was eavesdropping their discussion, albeit quite boring. Whenever I was not watching the girls around, I was able to catch these thoughts (if they don't make any sense, you know whom to blame):

... How does my productivity is going to be affected, boss? Things will not change for me if even a cat or a dog is made the CEO.
... Outsourcing is really much more than what you think, boss. In 2002, a threat by some European company, that because of the almost warlike situation in South Asia, they would like to cancel their outsourcing contracts to Indian BPOs, saw the government of India taking a decision of not declaring a war against Pakistan.
... You know these contractors have to pay the bribes in lakhs to get a place near Railway station which would earn them decent profit. If they set up their shops far away, they are doomed. So everyone is fighting for a good place. That is an onsite for them. Every job has an onsite boss.

Damn there weren't enough girls around to keep me distracted all along.

signing off,

Driver

You know I am completely out of my mind when I search for the driver for my SanDisk Cruzer Mini for Windows 98, and copy it on the SanDisk to install on the Windows 98 machine.

signing off,

Life

Having lost someone I didn't even know, because of none his faults, is a strange feeling. There was an accident yesterday night involving a mechanical failure of one of our company shuttles while heading home, which resulted in the shuttle falling into a ditch on Hosur Road which proved fatal to one of it's travellers and inflicting injury to many others. Looks like, contrary to usual belief, it was none of the driver's fault, save he could have got the tyres checked up regularly.

What pains me was the fact that other shuttles en route to the same destination, did not even stop or slow down to help those victims. They all seemed in a hurry to reach somewhere.

That brings me to the question I was discussing with dis just day before yesterday while heading home. Why are we in such a hurry? Why is each one of us is heading at their unknown destinations with such breakneck pace that one does not even have a time to stop by? Not even to help someone - In this case that someone could have been his project mate, someone sitting next to you for more than half a day, someone who you share your lunch with, someone who stands by each time your code does not work! I frankly donot know. And I am sure not many from those zooming shuttles knew this anyways.

signing off,

Of 7K, Michelin and a Setback

Rejoice boy, you should. Sensex has crossed 7000 for the first time in the history, before slipping back a bit, thanks to the end of Reliance saga. Look forward to some interesting situations in near future, you can. But careful, you will be. Unknown territories lie ahead now.

---

I did not watch Sunday's GP and neither was updating myself through any news channels (This is the drawback of not having a tv at home). So I knew about the fiasco that ran large at Indianapolis just today. Michelin's request to change the track on Sunday was ridiculous, I think. They should have anticipated the problem well ahead. It's not the first time a F1 race is being held at that track, so everyone concerned should have been familiar with the conditions there. Or so I thought. Their request seemed similar to say that the pitch does not suit our batsman/bowlers, change it. It doesn't happen that way dudes (on the second thoughts, it might, if your name happens to be WG!). It's just not cricket buddy.

---

And talking about cricket, Ponting must be wondering what possibly is going wrong with their team that they have been beaten in both of their opening matches. It is the defeat against Bangladesh would sear their ego much more. Though they are looking unperturbed outside, this serves them as an alarm that they are not invincible. It's good for the remaining one day series and the Ashes ahead. I hope the English are able to give them a good run for their money. For a fan's interest at least.

signing off,

Mumbai's Forum and Woh Lamhe

There goes a saying amongst we Bangalorians (as of last month this entity had two + two members. Now it is reduced by one) that we don't decide where to meet, but just when to. Because the answer to the question "Where to" always turns out to be the Forum!

I miss other locations in Bangalore. For ages I haven't been to MG n Brigade road to chill out. I haven't been to Innovative after 'Ab Tak Chhappan' last year. I haven't been to places like Indira Nagar, Majestic, Malleshwaram except only in emergencies. I trust that places like KR Puram or Cox Town or Chamrajpet (I still don't know how is this name pronounced) exist in Bangalore just because I hear and read these names in everyday's newspapers and Radio City. I can neither tell ....

Yes I know, I know that I have got carried away a bit. Back on track. The reason why I started this post was because of the meet me n my college friends had in Mumbai last weekend. And as usual it was at R-Mall in Mulund. We have been part of this R-Mall gathering once too often now! It's high time that someone opens a mall at any other available station .. come to think of it, not at Chinchpokli please!

That reminded me of quite a few meets of my college friends I have been part of since I left Mumbai in 2002. First one was at Bandstand in Bandra in May 2002. Not a single one from those assembled can forget this meet (the reason cannot be stated here, because this is a family blog). Next one was in Thane December 2002 when one of our friend had returned from US for his wedding (220V AC shock it was to all of us). Next one I don't quite recollect, but I think it was sometime in April 2003 at R Mall (remember photo with Ronald?). Next to this was in September 2003 in Thane when I had gone to my friend's house for Ganapati festival. Next to this definitely was in April 2004 in Pune at Coffee Day on J.M. Road and then at R Mall in Mumbai. Next in October 2004 in Mumbai at our college (with a royal tang by many ppl). And then in June 2005 in Forum oops at R Mall.

Sigh. Woh Lamhe!

---

That takes me to a special mention to my song of the moment. I know it's quite an old song now and you must have heard how nice song that is for hundreds of times. But still. There are two versions on the CD. Looks like it is an 'in thing' these days to remix your song yourself, before someone else takes credit for it. And while this remix is well done, I like the original much much better. The fast remix beats do not at all justify the song's quite haunting piece of lyrics by Saeed Quadri. The opening strings alone are enough to get you lost in it's beauty. Do listen it in the silence of a chilly night like I did yesterday and you will know what I mean.

signing off,

A Few Stray Thoughts

After much of intro and retro spections over last two-three weeks of vacation time, I am pretty convinced that,

* Air Deccan is not the best no-frill airline. I have to try something else next time.

* Not all Bangalore autowallas are bad.

* Marriage is not the place to enjoy food. Sometime you may get hit hard!

* Not all Mumbai autowallas are good.

* Central railway is losing it; esp on Sundays. Their megablocks are P.i.t.A.

* So are cyber cafes in Kurla. You know this when you find them using Windows 98 with Internet Explorer 4.5, without any other browser. And here was me carrying my pen-drive everywhere.

* And so is Aishwarya Rai. Just see her in BnB. Tch. Tch.

* Staying without tv is not difficult. But I missed Canadian GP.

* The songs 'Dhadak Dhadak' and 'Bunty aur Babli' from BnB are too good.

* I don't know what to do if a lady (good looking at that and unknown of course) sitting on next seat falls asleep and rests her head on my shoulder.

* I am not getting married soon, whatever they say.

* Su-Doku is cool.

* Cellphone networks suck only till you go roaming. In roaming you could get a call even in Jhumritalliaya.

* I should start exercising.

* Bunty aur Babli could have been made as a good movie. But alas. Long and redundant songs in movies suck bigtime.

* I have not matured prematurely. Come to think of it, have I at all?

* This one's interesting. At home I used to wake up and get ready by 7:30 AM. Two days in Bangalore and I am not even out of bed by 8:00 AM. I've got to do some brainstorming on this if I don't want to drive all the way to EC.

* Nadal could not have been beaten with that form.

* Mr n Mrs Smith is a good movie. Angelina Jolie is very beautiful.

* If I get married, it will definitely not be in June.

* Last but certainly not the least, home is the best place to be. Staying alone has it's merits, but largely you need to be with your people.

More on Mumbai soon.

signing off,

Zero Minus Two

The countdown has long back begun in my mind and this is it's current state. It is my remaining days in Bangalore before I go for a long vacation in Mumbai. For the first time I'll be away from workplace for 16 days! But I don't think I'd be able to be away from work :-( Currently I am trying to setup my account so that I can login to my machine from my home and can handle any problems.

Let's hope there is no problem and my next two weeks aren't spent in front of the idiot machine #2.

signing off,

A Sunday That Was

I am a lazy person. In my previous posts whatever I might have gloated about me exercising or biking, you may as well trash it. So now when I decide that I will get up on a Sunday morning at 0645 hrs (mslds*: kya?) and drive all the way to office (mslds: kya??) to play tennis and swim (mslds: kya???) be damn sure that I'll not do any of such sort at any cost.

But this Sunday is different. Even though I sleep at 0045 hrs on Saturday night

(mslds: Kya be.. Kya kar raha tha itna late? Naughty naughty! Uncle ko phone karoo kya?
miaws**: [daring to speak for the first time]: Yaar wo .. umm .. stitching kar raha tha.
mslds: Yeda samjha hai kya mujhe?
miaws: Nahi yaar, sachchi. Ye dekh ..
mslds: faints for some time looking at my art)

I wake up early morning next day. Get ready and hit the road towards the office on my

(mslds: Abe dhakkan, teri nahi, tere dost ki.
miaws: Haan yaar wohi. Abhi ek minute chup baithega, to main ye complete karoo?
mslds: Teri to .. Bahot aawaj chalne lagee hai be .. Dhishum dhishum ..)

bike. Now my friend here who is accompanying me for the game, calls me informing he has lost his wallet in the bus he was travelling. I reach the pickup point as soon as possible.

(mslds: Ye bhi chirkut hai. Itna subah uthake khelne bhi nahi diya..
miaws: Yaar uska wallet kho gaya hai, tu chup baith ek minute)

Trying to figure out what to do, we are left clueless for some moments on the road. We even try to chase a similar looking bus to find out whether it can be recovered. After some time when we are sure that it is indeed gone, a stark reality, that all his credit and debit cards are inside it, hits him again, this time hard. He calls up the banks to lock those cards. (One of them even tries to sell him a new better card. Her argument is now that he has cancelled his card, he'd definitely need a new one! Smart one I say!)

The experience at Police Station is mixed. First at Madiwala police station we are told to go to Kormangala police station as the incident happened in it's jurisdiction. Then at Kormanagla we are told that they can neither give us FIR (as their is no crime, just loss of property) nor any assurance that it can be recovered. Moreover, the ASI urges us not to put any amount in the missing list. "Agar wallet mil bhi gaya, paisa to milna kafi mushkil hai!". It's quite clear now why there are many crimes in Bangalore city that go unreported :-)

It is already 0930 hrs and now it is not possible to go and play. So we decide to go to my friend's house in Marathalli. Not quite far, just 12-13 km from where are we now. We go to his house, have some breakfast, purchase a t-shirt at Megamart (Marathalli is quite famous for factory seconds stuff. They have quite a good collection, if your waist doesn't measure 28". For those with 28" waist and 39 cm shirt size, god is just cruel.)

Then after this, I decide to head back home to get ready before we can go to the movie in afternoon.

(mslds: Kyon? Tujhe koi ladki dekhne aane wali thee kya?
miaws: Are yaar! Mera matlab tha ke because of the initial plan of playing tennis and swimming, I am in my bad jeans and worse tshirt. Ye pehen ke Forum mein to nahi ja sakta! Samajh ja bhidu!)

The only problem is that my home is around 23-24 km from Marathalli. So after much debate, I decide to go to the movie in whatever state. Now my friend, who thinks he owes me something, offers me one of his shirts. It isn't a better idea for me, as he only uses > M t-shirts! But finally he persuades me to wear one his printed t-shirts. Not only it is quite loose on me, it has a slogan that he assures (with a snigger that I am not able to comprehend) will be a super hit in a place like Forum. And for the first time the whole day, he turns out to be quite right. The problem being it is hit with only boys and men. Not a head (belonging to males, if at all) crosses me without turning their eyes at my tshirt.

No point in going forward to describe our experience at the movie show of Kya Kool Hai Hum.

signing off,

*MSLDS = my satanic, lazy, dominating self
**MIAWS = my innocent (mslds: muhahaha), active (mslds: muhahahaha), better (mslds: abe teri to .. ye kat de .. ghar nahi jana hai kya dono pairo pe?), weeny (mslds: pehli baar sach bola) self

13 Things

Sometime back I read on Kiruba's blog that there is this site called 43 Things. And because I did not have anything to write about, I thought I could compile the list of the things I intend to do in my lifetime and write about it. Writing about 43 things would take quite some time and of course, quite many blog entries. So naturally it is going to increase my blogging frequency and so will it increase my blog's readers stats, I hoped. Some day it is going to make me as a top most blogger. News reporters would want to interview me. Ekta Kapoor would want to make a tv serial on it. Or better a cartoon series on Toon Disney. Or even better .....

But alas, as of now I am not able to get beyond these 13 things. Nothing much to do in life eh? :-)

signing off,

Pani Pani Re

I have resolved to consciously drink more water in a day, meaning I'll keep a count of how much water I have consumed in a day. Before I was not doing this counting stuff, so just could not realize how less water I was drinking. Recently for a week I did that and found out that on an average I just used to have 2.5 bottles of water a day, a tad lesser than 3 lt. :O

Which, I announce, before Maharashtra Government hears and assuming that I am not getting enough water, plans for some new kind of ban against Bangalore authorities, is entirely my fault, and I am trying hard to improve.

Now in case you are wondering that Maharashtra Government can really do something like this for you, I hear from the insiders that it can. Just that you need to be working against some dance bar for that privilege.

signing off,

Yesterday

My day so far is reminding me of the famous Beatles lyrics ... :-(

Yesterday

- The Beatles

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
Oh, yesterday came suddenly

signing off,

Bloodshed of Two Different Kinds

Today has not been a good day. At least not for the Indian stock markets and for the Indian cricket team. Both have been slaughtered by enemies called Q4 results and Shahid Afridi.

Of course this is a time of Q4 results and people (read all tv business experts) were expecting this to be a little bearish period on markets. But no body did think it yesterday that it would hit it so hard. Sample this: Sensex down by some 220 points, Nifty down by 70 odd. Infosys itself is down by 145 points! Indeed quite harsh.

Speaking of harsh reality, Rahul Dravid would now realize it much better. He himself played well with Kaif and batting first we managed 250 on a wicket which has a record of low scores. At lunch he would have thought it was a fighting score. Unfortunately he did not account for Afridi. He blasted everyone on field without showing mercy. 100 of 46 balls usually means it is a piece of cake for rest of Pakistani team to achieve the target. And indeed it turned out to be child's play for them.

Now all I can do is to hope that the market and the team recover soon to come back strongly.

Amen!

signing off,