Sultan of Swing!! ;)

it is unbelievable.. it is awesome.. life is come a full circle for me.. barely a week back.. i was mocking kismet.. and here i am today.. feeling like its biggest victim.. (its strange you know.. how we understand life looking back.. but have to live it looking forward!!)

you know what its done to me.. it has compelled me into thinking again and revising my fundas about HIM, karma, and all alike.. i used to be an agnostic.. swinging away more often than swinging towards!!

today.. i was forced to become an extremist.. on the one hand.. i felt there cannot be a God.. if there was one.. this wouldn't have happened to me.. not two years in a row!! (i guess most of you would know what i'm talking about.. if not.. its nothing major.. or so i will realize 5-10 years down the line.. but today.. it was all that i was yearning for, for the past couple of years..)

yea so.. back to the point.. i started thinking.. what just happened was unreal.. it couldn't be happening.. not to me.. there cannot be that SOMEONE who could let this happen..

on the other hand.. i suddenly became scared.. i started thinking that may be there is that SOMEONE.. some one who has been seeing me all this time.. keeping track of all the times that i had denied HIS existence.. and thought.. alright dude.. this is your time.. this is where I show you who is the boss around here.. and what makes it even scarier is that all this coincides with all those attempts by the Sri Lankan tourism dept to showcase their beautiful mountains.. while claiming that they have proof of Ram's existence.. Ravan's mummy.. the land where the battle was fought.. Yea right!! (oops.. here i go again!)..

but then again.. from what is portrayed of HIM.. isn't HE the Big Hearted.. The Ever Forgiving..

and this is precisely why i don't delve into such introspective sprees.. because all it does is.. after having given it such intense thought.. IT BRINGS ME BACK TO SQUARE ONE!! i'm still swinging..!!

just my luck!!

Kismet.. Kismet is a wonderful 6 letter convenience invented by us human beings.. It is something that can discredit your highest of achievements.. and credit you for the worst of your failures..

It is the most effective swab.. it can clean all all the efforts that have gone down the drain.. ("it wasn't in your kismet.. you see!!").. it can also give you an all encompassing excuse for whatever you haven't accomplished.. ("it was never meant to be..")

there is also another wonderful use to it.. it helps you to satiate and provide reason to your jealousy.. ("he didn't really deserve it.. plain simple kismet!!")

so you see.. it is a very flexible funda.. you can mould it your requirements.. and justify whatever you haven't achieved.. or what others have achieved..

it is also a saviour in many a uncomfortable and awkward moments in life.. like when someone close to you.. (or even someone not so close..) tells you about their failures.. there is always that favourite line that can help us escape the situation.. "i'm sure there is something better waiting for you.." or "i'm sure its happened for the best.." or "everything happens for a reason"..

so there you go.. we have just found the perfectly customisable word.. the swiss army knife of english language..

signing off and wishing you all the (good) kismet in the world!

the 361st degree!

september blues?

i don't know.. but it seems there is something about September. Only a third of the month has passed.. and its been soo eventful..

in chronological order :

we shifted into our own place early in september.. the telephone company refused to transfer the internet connection there.. (it might look like something measly to you.. but without an internet connection, i'm almost handicapped..)

i had to send the CAT form and right on the date when i decided to send it (which already verrryyy late..) i realized that my degree certificate is missing.. which meant that there was a very slim chance that my form reaches the IIM's on time.. somehow managed that fiasco..

in the mean time.. i was trying to live by a GPRS enabled net connection (for the technologically handicapped.. how did you get to this page in the first place!!??!.. but anyway.. its a technology that lets you connect to the net thru your cellphone.. YES.. its possible!)

then yesterday.. as i was preparing to enjoy the sunday (don't ever ask a CAT aspirant how they enjoy Sundays).. i went to have my bath.. (in the new house we have these fancy shower panels installed.. so yea.. i'm taking my bath well these days).. and while i was going in the bathroom, i left my cellphone in my shorts.. and my ever helpful maid.. took those shorts and laundered them thoroughly.. (yes.. the same cell phone that i used to connect to the net!!).. and thirsty as my phone was.. (it had gone without a single dose of porn for ages..) it drank about 2 litres of water.. little did it know that its sometimes better to dry than be wet ;) ..

so thats how these ten days have gone for me..

writing this on the cellphone that i borrowed from mom... which probably will be confiscated tomm and i will be given a brand new phone.. which costs about a thousand rupees.. AND WILL NOT HAVE GPRS..

i guess its a classic case of.. wake me up.. when september ends!

the unpredictable!

hey... i've recently been hooked to internet radio.. more often than not.. it plays crappy songs.. unheard/long forgotten hindi numbers.. but for some reason.. i still find myself listening to these stations all day long.. folks at home have started considering treatments already.. the final blow was received yesterday.. when mom asked me if i needed something and this was a new weapon i had discovered to get my demands met.. the power of himesh reshammiya!! so.. while i was chewing over this proposition (the one of playing himesh reshammiya to attain world peace!).. i also started questioning as to why am i listening to this.. and i realized.. its because of the certain amount of unpredictability associated with radio.. the kind of thing that keeps you wondering.. whats up next?? it could be your favoritest song.. it could be something that you absolutely detest.. or something that u haven't even heard of.. and so you listen on.. and on and on..

its not just internet radio.. its any kind of radio.. despite all those annoying jingly adverts..

at this point of time.. i feel like getting all philosophical.. and comparing the radio to our life.. as to how our life is so unpredictable.. you don't know if its going to play a happy song or a sad one.. but please.. spare me of that.. and i shall spare you!! :)

but the point is.. unpredictable is good.. that random element in things keeps us going.. keeps them interesting.. and while writing this.. i realize.. this is precisely why i have had the audacity, the equanimity.. to take CAT again.. that may be this time.. may be this time IS really my time!!

hoping that i'm third time lucky..

adios!!

p.s. : some randomness that i love :
internet radio
stumbleupon.. something i really suggest you should try.. you will not be able to thank me
enough..

FYI: for all those who know and have given CAT would know and understand what i mean.. for all those who haven't.. CAT is the grand-daddy of all competitive exams.. arguably.. the toughest exam to crack in the world.. for the simple fact that it admits only 1 out of about 200 applicants (harvard uni takes one out of 8!!)..

india.. another perspective.. courtesy abhinav

The guy is a sailor.. poor thing.. celebrated i-day on the ship.. with no access to blogger.. mailed it to the people he knows.. i'm doing my duty of taking it to the masses!!


"A soul passes through many bodies...
The soul...the spirit of India has existed since centuries but on 15th
august 1947, we - India stepped into a new life, a new phase and had taken
birth as - Independent India.
Today we turn 60 - retirement age.
This number and age, 60, as if magically turns a person into a more
peacefull, serene, wise and happier being.

Retirement, in general, should present itself to people with a sense of
freedom.
Freedom from all the daily tussles of life... freedom from working hard and
monotonously for someone else, fullfilling the dreams of only those who sit
at the top of the pyramid, only to claim damages at the end of each month.
Retirement 'should' present us with all the oppurtunities of doing what we
always wanted to do... pursuing our long forgotten hobbies and spending all
the time we have with our loved ones.
It gives us the power of dreaming once again... as we used to before...
when we were young... before getting trapped in the illusion of practical
survival in this world... before when 'we' formulated rules, disregarding
the 'conventional wisdom'.

Today on 15th august, after 60 years since 1947, when India had started a
new phase of its life...

... India retires...
..retires from that position of a newly liberated country.
Now we are free once again and taking this 60th year of independence as a
mark, we should drop the tag of a 'once ruled' nation and seek a new
beginning.
This day presents us with an oppurtunity of accepting freedom in a much
more broader sense.
This day presents us all the beautifull scenarios retirement offers to any
individual...
.. to seek our dreams, India's dream... 'cause WE are INDIA...

- and today we retire."

Abhinav Srivastav

ps : his blog

how free are you???

OR

we just celebrated.. with much fanfare.. our 60th independence day..

made me wonder how free i am.. what can i do in this free nation.. take (undue) advantage of this freedom that the nation now has to offer us..

here's what i realized.. in this FREE India..

• i can use as many polythene bags as i want, without giving a second thought to what it does the environment
• i can leave taps running.. hell.. i'm brushing my teeth, i like to see the water running!!
• i can.. without a quandary.. drive on the wrong side of the road.
• its my cell phone.. i can press it between my shoulder and ear.. and talk while i'm driving..
• i can let all the fans running.. i like it cold.. whether i'm in the room or not..
• i can eat all the paan/guthka i want and spew and sputter as much as i want.. right ABOVE the spitoons and right below the signs "NO SPITTING!"
• i can smoke as much as i want.. its a free nation.. who cares about all those glares and frowns.. you don't like it.. you may please leave.. and whats with the NO SMOKING signs????
  
• i love my girlfriend(s).. all of them!! and in case i decide to make my own "how i met your mother series".. i have to have all those inscriptions on taj mahal, qutub minar and every other monument of historic significance.. i mean.. if they're carrying history.. they should carry the weight of my history as well..
• and since i love my girlfriend so much.. i have the right to kiss, cuddle and grope at the public-est of public places.
• i love to talk loudly on my cellphone.. even more so.. when i'm in a movie hall...
  
• when i'm not talking on the phone in the hall, i love to pass lewd, lascivious comments.. i mean c'mon.. i paid the entire 200 rupees for the movie.. plus.. i have the right to expression!!
• i am an ardent admirer of all the beauty that exists in the world.. and i make sure that i express it.. and some stupid people call it eveteasing!
• i work in a government office.. and i think we should now stick boards all around.. "we speak only one language... its green in color!".. i mean.. its such a hassle..every time someone has to get something done.. we have to start the process of subtlety->almost obvious->heck i want money..

thats what my freedom is..

how free are you?????