All BLUES 'BOUT PINKS

News of economic recession and depression was almost gradually eating into the thoughts of human minds through out the world. Will the world see another major depression since the actual depression took place decades ago seems to be running through everyone's consciousness. Stock prices plummeted, real estate prices though dint crash did come down for good, governments gave away cash and liberal dosages of help to their citizens in developed countries and people at developing countries hoped for such policies and for undeveloped world, the hope has always been with them and vanished from some of them even at times of boom.

Global leaders realized this far ahead and were well equipped to tackle or it is what we expected from global leaders, but still the recession raged upon many hapless persons who watched as they were handed over the pink slips. Companies and corporate management made the most of this recession. In the name of recession newer policies were brought down , in the name of cost cutting, several bonus and other liabilities were removed.

Newer plans to cope up with the new brand of inefficient people, faked credibility people and voluntarily taking off people emerged. I wonder if anyone would actually part with their jobs voluntarily in the wake of recession, this term (Voluntarily taking off) coined by the management to safeguard their brand image in the wake of recession, however did not impress me much.

A top management brand in the west has however dubbed that it is the middle management that gets the slips rather than the top and lower level in the hierarchy of a corporate, however that is the ideal scenario as they are mean coordinators and status updaters and timeline reminders. However the truth as always was hidden behind the thick blanket of intelligent management and innovative management who suddenly find a part of their staff who would work for hours and hours to achieve the smaller goals of the organization suddenly ineffective and we hear horror stories of people being sacked and still the media laughed merrily as now it has got double whammy bonus. One is the story of global recession and its effect on corporate shit and the other is the common man's woes and tales after he lost his job. And many more angles were attached to such stories in what would we call yellow journalism rampant especially in present day India.

Need of the hour is however to generate more jobs than giving more money looted from the common man to pull out bankrupt shit corporates. To do this we need strong leadership and transparent policies to help people build up the economy. However the temporary medicine has been sucked into the bodies of maniacal organizations who would again turn bankrupt in a few decades. All we need now is build a permanent vaccine not temporary tablets so that no more mental tortures to people.

And permanent vaccine is to be a facilitator to create more jobs in new sectors and punish the fraud companies and their board management. However having said this has any politician got the guts to turn the pinks on to the directors of such bankrupt companies and appoint efficient management. I dont want to write much more about this as i feel time will take its own course and more thinkers would fight back and give more jobs whether there is recession or not.

Slumdog Millionaire ... Lets Fact it

The movie created a buzz of sorts throughout the world and i want to add more to that buzz. Many noted Indian stupid journos have identified this movie as an Indian movie because they say it is Indian by heart .. ridiculous...these bunch of losers and suckers can do only one thing.. they cling on to the success stories and think they are also a success... First things first this is not an Indian movie. Its director and producers are all from Great britain. They have duly recognised the Indian story writer unlike their mentally retarted indian counterparts who are addicted to stealing stories and not crediting the knowledge of the person who wrote the story..Plagiarism is right in there.

The movie opens up with Jamal being interrogated by Irfan Khan and he explains to him how he has not cheated but has made up answers for the show Who wants to be a millionaire through his experiences. Many scenes are worth mentionining here especially the one where the couple of slum children(Jamal and Salim) are chased by the Inspector - The slum environment is beautifully captured on camera , the scene where Jamal goes and gets a glimpse of his favourite star Amitabh Bachan, fully covered with shit. The scene where the fellow beggar child is being deprived of his eyesight by Maman who captures children to use them for begging. The scene where Jamal offers 100$ to his former friend beggar. These are hard truths for a particular section of Indian society. Lets face it. I am not telling Danny did the best job in bringing these things on screen but he has done a good home work.

Then many directors of Indian origin have brought in more dimensions to many sections of society in their movies...very relevant to their times. But they never were hyped this much. Why? this question snares at me to be answered !!!

There was one scene in the movie where an American couple are robbed of their car parts (Believe me it happens in many places in India), the police man catches the guide boy Jamal and beats him. Jamal cries "THIS IS INDIA Madam". Madam from America gives him some dollars and says "THIS IS AMERICA". Then there is a scene that shows pro hindutva groups kill a woman of other religion. This is reason enough for american chamchaas the desi puppets of America - the Congress and its multitude of boot licking media men(like ibnlive and other bull shit news companies) to go hoho about this movie. Rajiv Masand the self proclaimed best critic year after year from ibnlive sponsored award functions has went ahead and given a thumbs up and a rating of 4 for this movie(he usually does if the movie endorses a lot of congress policies ... sorry for using the blog to tell this but thats the truth ... lets fact it - ). He is someone I wud call a rather Obvious critic rather than an intellectual critic.

There were many glitches in the movie too. The little trio of Salim, Javed and Latika did a better job than the grown ones and somehow for Javed as age went on the acting skills reduced and others they maintained the acting skills). Now every movie wants to talk about the muslim who is affected due to riots and the muslims affected due to riots and the muslims affected due to riots (yes u read it thrice). Its like a fashion now to show the affected muslim to get critical acclaim from the chamchaa critics like Rajeev masand.

Danny boyle seemed to have been misdirected in some scenes to be frank. Senior Jamal could identify Salim through his voice after even not talking and seeing him for many years.He works as a Chai-wallah and he searches for Salim malik in the Call center personal's desktop application that keeps a record of all phone numbers and he finds hardly 15-20 Salim Malik's and one of them is (alas such a thriller story), his brother.

Then there is the end scene where Salim puts in all the money he has earned on a bath tub and sleeps on that and waits for the rowdy to come in and kill him .. u see it shows the passion for money that turned out his life and now will turn on his death. Looked a bit amateaurish.

Then there is a scene where the sub teen Salim and Jamal barge into notorious Maman's brothel and try to kidnap Latika but Maman comes there and asks them ."Did you really think, you can come here and take away that girl so easily".. It was logical since 2 small children could not do that.. but the logic is broken when you are shown that they not only they barge into Maman's brothel but also kill him before his men and escape unhurt into a 5 star hotel that is built near by without getting noticed. Remember they are the kids.

Then there is this scene where Jamal tries to enter the house of notorious Javed and Latika to talk and elope with Latika. She instantly recognises him as her boy when she was too young (Cinematic license granted). Jamal is stopped by the watchman but Jamal says he has come as a servant but watchman turns him saying there is no need for a servant and they have actually asked for a dishwasher.. Jamal laughs and says "Yeah Dishwasher" and the watchman allows him..

Overall it is an average movie. Lets fact it .. its just above average movie. Certainly high on technical content like Camera work, Music and Editing - to be watched out for in the Oscars but acting and screenplay was average.Direction - just about average.

And for the hype - it has missed the justice for the hype by a whisker.

Put your comments down on the movie and not on my views and on me okie.

Trip to Blue Mountains - Sydney - Part I

Blue Mountains - That myriad place where every wannabe traveller freak in Sydney wants to be at. To be photographed. To be exhausted after a trek like experience (not trekking you nerd,its trek like ok) , To enjoy a beautiful drive , Ofcourse as in every place of Sydney To See some beautiful scenaries (now thats only scenaries ok now bcoz i am a gentle man with a beeer gold heart sorry puure gold heart)

So we started off with 2 cars both having navigators(Now Dont ask me the dates of the journey i never remember my dates i mean the dates) . They took us towards the blue mountains (or hills or rocks ..eh ..oh.. leave it they call it blue mountains) Somewhere 10 kms before the destination our navigators shows us 2 directions one car went in one direction and other car went in other direction (Yaah it was a navigator's problem not the driver's problem remember i am a software engineer). We lost each other's sight and we made frantic calls to the other car people and they were clueless of the place so we went here and there and here and there and oooh at last we found each other then we set off for that wonderful journey and we saw a dead end and that too in a Highway ... this is terrific we thought (dead end because of a road construction under way so no vehicles allowed that way) we stopped the cars had some snacks and definitely no cigarretes and drinks(shud i remind u i have a beeer gold heart sorry puure gold heart).

We then took a u turn and went through a small pass through gully and reached the drivable highway path and hurree we are on track. We reached the Gordon falls and went for a small walk (small if you think 3 kms is small) and they said that was the most splendid view of a waterfall they have ever seen (AAAH I was getting sleep but i am also in the group so i said wahwahwah) . It was ofcourse beautiful not that i have never seen anything like that(Comon growup hippies i am a trekking freak.. i have trekked the entire world and i have seen a whole range of falls in my life)

Then we started off for the scenic viewing near the 3 sisters . That was the end of the begining. Sky started throwing its tears on the laps of mother earth and we started getting wet (remember we r not in car we have to cover a small distance of 3 kms). Perfect I said to myself.

We still did not lose courage and went and sat inside our jeep and car and rain stopped we thought we have to continue our journey. We reached 3 sisters within an hour and we got down the cars and the Sky does not like that and he starts crying again and Mother Earth takes him in her lap I get furious but no way i have to continue my journey.

We went in the rain took some photos and snacks and yes you guessed it right no cigarrettes and no drinks. We had some good time (Q: Without a gal frend how can you have a good time? Ans) Me telling very bad words to my friend and he telling very very bad words to me..grrrr)

We then started off to see Jenolan caves and yes perfect we started at 4:15 and everything closes in this part of world by 4:00 P.M and so we got back to Sydney as we did not want to stay there for the night as we have to go for a bigger ride the next day at the office.(A much bigger ride indeed) ... There ends the part I (1) of our journey ....

End of the day - we are happy for having spent some good moments Part 2 will continue...

Astrology - Naadi Jyotishya and Lucky Stones

I used to think God is there but will he appear .. Destiny is defined but is it understood... nature is planned but is it predictable....man can get nothing by being so demanding from his fellow beings or from himself but will he ever give up.....

I always thought no....might be ... might be yes ... it all depends on nothing ...

But sometimes even the most intelligent were proved wrong...
Yes I was proved wrong many a times and this time too....

I wa sitting on the terrace of my pent house in the night sipping an apple juice and looking at the skies thinkiing about the day when I went to the temple trip in south India , I never knoew then that it would change me completely..from an atheist to theist.

I still remember those days...

Myself, Pradeep, Madhavan hired a car (tata indica) from bangalore and drove straight to Tanjavur - we saw the great temple of tanjavur- i made up my mind to come there next time too with my family...its not the beauty but the spriritual aspect that captures me when ever i visit a temple... but this time for the first time in my life , the architectural aspect caught my imagination.. I could not describe what passed beneath my mind when i saw those beautiful landscaped sanctoriums..and the huge nandi...it was a refresher for the temples which i will be seeing further...

We then went to the famous Chidambaram Natarajar temple. The priests did not look like Iyers but looked more like namboodiris. They seemed to be commercializing the pujas eventhough i am not sure of their intentions , i really did not feel good when they were trying to sell us coupons telling that they would do some poojas and i was not really impressed by the way people get a closer look of the god ( u know wat one of us bribed them to have a closer look at the god)..I was a bit disturbed but still the temple was alluring.We also went to Tiruchy Ranganathar temple in this journey.

We then went to the Vaitheeswaran temple which is also famouse for naadi jyoshyam. We went and saw a naadi astrolger as suggested by the relative of madhavan. He asked for our finger prints and our date of births and after a cool 20 minutes took us to the room to tell our future..

i was not really waiting with bated breath but with a little apprehensions on wat would he tell... he demanded a whopping 1800 Rs for telling the different kandams...i paid without a second thought because i was determined to know if there is something really wrong with my birthchart..then he started to tell the following points

He said My sister would get married when i will be 27 after a bit of hiccups which of course happened with some hiccups...
He said I will get married when i am 29.. i dont know if i will ever since i ma never interested in marriage...
He then said i will have my first child when i will be 32 .. now marriage itself is a doubt then where is the child..
He again said my second child will be when i am 35 .. .oh my god please leave me...

He said i will reach new heights in my carrier in the future.. i know i am in a shit pond as far as my carrier is concerned... u know wat i never liked S/W engr profession...

He said if i put my hard work i might end up doing my higher studies also .. believe me sparrows came out of my ears when i heard this...

He then said i will go abroad first for a smaller trip and then on a longer trip might end up for years... believe me i never had a liking for any onsite except for money and i never had a chance too and my situation was like i never will have..

He the said i will end up inventing something and that i will get prizes and recognition and my face would come up on TVs and i would end up meeting very influential people and also jail and i shud not trust all my friends as one of them will end me up in jail.. i will start my own companies...i was sleeping and started to believe he is a liar...

Now for the funniest part ... he was telling about my previous janmam... u know wat i always believed i did some paapam in my previous janmam.. and yes this was believable .. a rather true story told in a filmy fashion..

Hew told me i was born of a noble birth but gave up my character and started raping many girls and usurped many people's fortunes and looted many people's houses and was brutal and ditched my wife and parents and took up the wrong cause and harmed many people who have put shaapam on me and so if any one puts a bad eye on me it will immedietely turn out to be a show stopper for me... i died becaquse of a dangerous disease and no one was there with me during my death but i managed to build a temple for Lord Shiva and because of that only something good will happen to me...i will never stay in a single place because of this shaapam (curse)...My marriage will nearly end up in rocks if i will not do any dosha pariharams.. i will never carry luck and every single ruppee earned will be because of my own work and not through luck or any one's help...

I was gasping for breath and tired of seeing and hearing the maayabazaar stories....

You know wat,, my sister's marriage happened when i was 27 with some hiccups..and i came for a short trip followed by a longer trip i dont know if it would go on for years and you know wat i never stayed at a single place if u take my history(17 houses shifted so far and 5 cities/towns shifted so far and still counting) and you know wat till date i never won a rupee in lottery or luck based scenarios..

now i dont know if i have to believe him or not....

It looked funny for me but believe me i started to believe astrology is true science and it has dwelved deeper into the concept of parallel chakras much earlier than we thought and understood such concepts...Based on these only naadi astrology is told..

my destiny is pre written.. i can lift my hands and fall but my destiny will pick me up...

I believe i am believing it now....

Similalry there was a lucky stone recommendation from one astrologer and he guaranteed me i will leave india by April month... I never wanted to be outside india and i never asked for such chances and infact i was saying no to such chances when all of a sudden i was asked to leave for australia from india at the end of april... i had to believe it...

You know wat i have a friend .. we came from a similar middle class back ground..studied in the same school, we did not know each other much then....we joined the same college, same department, same first job,same place of residence when we shifted our jobs and which we did at same time... we shifted jobs almost the second time also on the same time and he came onsite for an assignment and near his company was my company where I too was posted onsite after sometime....call it coincidence or planned ..believe me not even a single action was planned to be done together...thats the beauty of parallel chakras.. everything happens within one month gap between him and me except for onsite expeience which he had a experienced more than me and has a better job in hand and has taken much better decisions than me... Call it stars but sometimes life just cannot coincide more often which is more bizarre rather....

We are nearing 2008 end

I blink and miss the year ... yes it is already nearing the end of the year. Was a lovely and memorable one ... really met cool guys and exchanged great thoughts and was extremely busy for the first time in my life... yes believe me...

As with every year this year was full of highs and lows....

Year started with a bang , I finally managed to buy a small piece of land (1200 sq feet) at chennai. I however could not manage to get a transfer to chennai..

I managed to get into a banking domain project but could not get into development project..

I finally managed to get an Onsite but could not get it to the western world....

I finally managed to convince my father for a retirement but could not convince my PM to send me to chennai...

My sister got married but i could not even talk to a girl so i dont know wen i will get married...

Registered with the IMS but could not write the CAT/GMAT exams...

Many things however happened for the first time in my life in this year like ....

Cooking and eating the same ... ofcourse the worst nightmare i had...
Exploring some fantacies which i could have only imagined at India...
Buying a property, getting a chance to interact with foreigners, onsite, direct client interaction etc amidst the otherwise dull daily routines which i used to have until last year or so did i feel the last year...

Hope the coming year will be full of more surprises and shud i say more happiness as i dont want to believe in surprises as they can deceit you...

These and many other things happened like..

Yes I cleared SCWCD exam also but I could not get it reimbursed because of some stupid policy....

Watched a James Bond movie for the first time in theater and you know what i did not like the hero or the heroine....

Brought and worn the Blazers/Ties etc but looked like a conductor in the mirror..

Became more superstitious and god believing but still the path is less travelled...

and many more things have happened this year ...

hope the next year will be more blossoming than it was....