And here we go again : /

It was promising to be another super day - a day full of super exciting stuff to do like writing long lines of code. The kind of life anyone would kill to have. A 9 - 5 existence, followed by watching an endless list of TV soaps accompanied by drinks and and a big bowl of munchies, with the girth of our bellies growing by the minute. Exciting life, isn't it? It was at the advent of just a day like this that I was sitting on my chair (yeah! MY chair! you know I'm talking to you - those who don't understand, it's none of your business, so please read on) and typing away beautiful lines of code that I knew wouldn't work unless I treated the computer gently (Intel P4 family has major ego issues! Oh yeah, I have been given a P4 computer). To not anger my computer, I typed softly and I hummed a song as I typed. Just then, the building started shaking. Earthquake! That was my first thought. Cool! That was my second. I quickly updated my facebook status while the building was still shaking. I looked around. Half the office was empty, the other half were updating their facebook statuses just like I did. The building was still shaking. "Holy shit! This one is long." The overhead ceiling lights were swinging wildly in a to and fro motion and were seemingly trying to tell me something. "Get the fuck out of here, you dimwit!" It was just then that I realize what a person is supposed to do when an earthquake happens - run for your life. And so I did, or so I tried to do. But the earthquake got over just as I took my first sprint step. Somehow I managed to   apply my brakes and almost slipped and fell in the process. I could have died in that fall, I thought. But then again, I had just finished watching all the final destination movies. As I was busy trying to imagine up theories of how seemingly harmless office equipment will be the end of me, I overheard a couple of Delhi hotties having a heated debate of how they were all going to die sooner or later. The end of the world is coming.......... ARMAGEDDON is coming!!!!
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Say what???? : /

The Mayans simply ran out of writing space, you fools! There's been a lot of horseshit going around lately about how we are all gonna die. OK, we are all gonna die at some point. No one lives forever. Valor morghulis! (Google it). But to say that the world is simply going to end this december is more than I can take. So I have taken it upon myself to wage a dharm yudh, a crusade, a jihad, and whatever else have you, against the spread and advocacy of this fallacious information. There's a lot of jihad stuff already going on about. Seems to be a popular career choice for many young people these days. But the job description in most jihadist companies require you to to grow a long beard. I don't like growing long beards. Hot chicks don't like long beards. So I will be starting my own jihadist organization. AJACRS - al Jihad Against Completely Retarded Shitheads. All are welcome to join. I am even designing a compulsory costume. And no, long Dumbledore style beards are strictly not allowed. And the Burqa is banned!!

First order of business as chairman of my new start-up - make fun of doomsayers and their pathetic arguments. One brilliant person would suggest that we don't even have as far as December to live. He suggests that we are all going to die on May 21st itself. Better plan that trip to Amsterdam soon folks. But if you are a serious believer in all this talk of doomsday, then I definitely wouldn't want to rob you of a chance to survive. So you might wanna check for reservations here: http://www.businessinsider.com/places-to-go-during-apocalypse-2011-5# . I'd suggest link number 13 :) .

In any case, I can live in peace knowing that if there is any catastrophe anywhere in the world, the news will immediately find its way to the facebook wall of a person experiencing this catastrophe. The catastrophe can be as mild as a turkey dish gone bad to as extreme as hurricane to hit my house in 5...4...3.......2...1.....buzzzz............Goodbye Cathy, thanks for the info! I am extremely confidant that I can survive any apocalypse because of people like Cathy who put their life on the line to pass on valuable information to her fellow human beings just so that they have the chance to survive. RIP Cathy.

Although I find it irresistible to not make fun of doomsayers, I do understand the enormity of the consequences should I turn out to be wrong and all the doomsayers are in fact true. Therein lies the second purpose of AJACRS, and that is to form a second line of defense so that the human race can survive. And I believe that we have finally managed to find salvation for all of us. It had not been easy. It had required every gooogling technique I knew. But after painstakingly googling for 15-20 minutes, I succeeded where others have failed. I found a way by which we can yet save ourselves, our planet and the entire human race from the devastation that awaits us. All we have to do is to behave. The basis of my logic lies in the fact that almost all doomsayers are evangelists. If doomsday actually does happen, it probably means whatever these evangelists have been preaching is more or less true, if you remove the drama and hear their stories with a pinch of salt. They believe that earthquakes are used by their lord to convey messages to an increasingly wicked human society - and that message seems to be loud and clear, behave, or I'm gonna come and make you behave.

And there you have it folks - you must behave! And that means no more rapes (Yes, Delhi, I am looking at you, stop fidgeting), no more stealing (kleptomaniacs can be exempted though, it's not their fault. God made them that way. If they don't steal God might become angrier still), no more killings (Don't you dare protest Delhi. Mumbai, you are on the list too), no more kidnappings(good job bihar, UP watch out) and ........use your own imagination. So the bottom-line is that you must behave in order to survive.

Between a rock and a hard place

For the first time since I became old enough to write down my abc's, India is faced with a situation wherein the outcome of it's strategic decisions will affect the flow of events in the entire world, not just in the south Asian region. So far, India has been able to befriend two enemy states (read Iran and Israel), with the assumption that their strife is their internal matter and does not concern India. However, post the attack on the Israeli defense attache's wife(promptly blamed by Israel on Iran) India has now found itself in a situation where it may never have wanted itself. India may well have to choose a side now - will it be Iran or Israel.

Both nations are strategically very important to India. Choosing any over the other may mean permanent losses of the resources supplied by that nation to India. However, this is a chance for India to assert itself on the international scene. USA is now lobbying hard for India to support the sanctions against Iran. This in itself speaks volumes about India's growing importance in the region and also in the entire world. Such a scenario would have been unimaginable 2 decades ago. And any attempt by India to walk the middle ground and adopt a neutral line as it always does, may seen by other nations as a sign that India lacks the political will to adopt a more significant role in world affairs. The whole situation looks to be spiraling out of control, with Israel and Iran now fighting their battles on the streets of Delhi. India is now among the last few nations of economic importance that have still not complied with the US sponsored sanctions on Iran. It shall be very interesting to see, exactly how does the Indian government  handle this situation. Will India resort to pussyfooting again or will the government finally grow some backbone and take some action keeping in mind long term advantages, not short term gains.

Both Israel and Iran hold significant importance in India's long term goals. Lets start with Iran. The most important factor here is oil. India imports 12% of its crude from Iran. Several Indian refineries are geared up to process the kind of crude that Iran exports. Refitting all these refineries to process other types of crude will consume a lot of national resources. Indeed! Finding a dependable supplier at such short notice will indeed be a difficult task. Although Saudi Arabia at America's behest has offered to step in and fill the void left by the Iranians, working out a deal with them will be time consuming, and then there is the question about retrofitting the refineries to deal with Saudi oil, a herculean task! India and Iran are currently in the midst of discussing a big oil deal which involves laying a pipeline on the Arabian Sea bed. Secondly, Iran is currently India's only access point to Afghanistan, a country in who's security and stability India has a huge stake. Iran also has a shared interest along with India to prevent the Taliban from retaking Afghanistan when the US army abandons Afghanistan to it's own fate. Iran along with India had supported the Northern Alliance which were fighting the Taliban pre 1999. Thirdly, Iran, together with Afghanistan also provide India with an access to the mineral rich central Asia. India would also not be in favor of China stepping into any void left behind by India's departure. So, basically Iran is very important in the fulfillment of India's immense energy requirements, and also in meeting regional security requirements of India. And I haven't even spoken about the Sunni-Shia angle, which make Iran a natural enemy of Pakistan, a Sunni dominated country widely known for the persecution on Shia's.

And now Israel. Israel is perhaps the most important partner of India in the field of counter-terrorism. There has been unprecedented co-operation between Indian and Israeli intelligence since 1960's- an era before Israel was even allowed to open up an embassy in India. India and Israel started formal diplomatic relations only in 1992, after years of ineffective pro Arab policies. The Indian government had for years supported the Palestinian cause whole-heatedly in the hope of Arab support for India's Kashmir cause. But this policy bore no fruit, as the Arab countries always backed Pakistan when it came to Kashmir. Pakistan being an Islamic nation was held in much higher esteem and importance than India. India was being taken for granted. Frustrated by this attitude, India finally established formal relations with Israel. However India had a secret relationship with Israel established long before that. Time and again Israel has proved to be a valuable partner by Providing India with intelligence at key moments. The relationship with Israel really took off to reach unprecedented heights during the time of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA government, which had always supported relations with the Israeli sate. Today, Israel trains many Indian intelligence officers as well as specialized commando units. Mossad and RAW have a long tradition of intelligence sharing. Israel is also the second biggest arms supplier to India, just behind Russia, and a good deal more dependable than Russia, I might add. Israeli technology is also a good deal superior to Russian Technology. Another point that affects both  countries directly is the rise of Islamic terrorism. India and Israel are both surrounded by hostile Islamic nations, and this fact makes them natural allies. India and Israel also have big collaborations in the field of space science, aerospace, nanotechnology, biotechnology among others. Israel is now poised to become India's leading defense supplier. And allying itself with Israel will also mean India's formal induction into the US led block, Such associations have their advantages as far technology transfer is concerned, something which India is in need in.

In light of these facts and many more which I am just too lazy to research and write, India's choices at this critical juncture will influence the unfolding of world affairs in the coming decades. The great diplomatic dance has begun and it is time for India to tango.

Believe it or not!!

Wikipedia gives the following definition of exorcism:
Exorcism (from Late Latin exorcismus, from Greek ἐξορκισμός, exorkismos - binding by oath) is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed.


All religions are based on one concept: the victory of good over evil. Good is represented by God and his angelic forces, while evil is represented by the Demonic Lords and their minions. The mythology of any of the world's major religions is immersed in the perpetual fight between these two forces. And in all these stories, almost without fail, good must triumph over evil at the end. In the Ramayana, after facing years of hardships and losses, Lord Rama finally manages to defeat Ravana - the "king of demons", to reclaim his wife Sita. In Christianity, Judas betrays Lord Jesus Christ for his own ends.......but the good Lord returns from death to show humanity the 'right path to heaven'. Judas was demonified after that and his gospel was burned. Only recently, one of the last surviving copies of his gospel was found which tells the entire story from his perspective, but the Christians refused to accept the gospel as a true gospel and instead vilified it.


One of the things that we do know about history is that, only the victor writes the pages of history. We do not know anything else about the king of Lanka except from what is written in the Ramayana, which is basically an epic singing praises about the virtues of Lord Rama. Though the book does mention that Ravana was an intellectual and a true devotee of Lord Shiva, most of the population of the Hind came to vilify him. For most of us, he represents the embodiment of evil. He came to be known as the king of demons. But who is to tell the difference between the good side and the bad side in a battle that took place thousands of years ago. There is a small tribe in the the heartlands of Madhya Pradesh that worships Ravana as a deity, for reasons of kinship as well as him being an intellectual. True that Ravana had kidnapped Sita and held her against her will. So, he fancied her. Big deal! A man who kidnaps a woman who satisfy his love or lust cannot be rightfully vilified and portrayed as the personification of all evil. As I understand it, in those primitive days, things like this could not have been this uncommon. And to drive home my point that the victor is always 'right', let us look at more recent events, like during world war 2. During those times, two lines of thought existed. One led by Hitler's Germany and the other carved out by the allies. Each line of thought was 'right' in the country of their origin while the other line of thought was vilified. Hitler's view that Jews were traitors to the German cause and not to be trusted was widely supported by a lot of Germans. The Britons naturally and rightly so vilified that way of thinking(Aryan supremacy) but on the other hand it was all right for them to exploit Asians and Africans because they were 'inferior' to the white skinned powerful imperialists that the Brits were. Double standards? Now who was in the right here? Or were both sides in the the right and also in the wrong in their own way. The end of the war  brought Germany's defeat and also Japan's. Anyone who was a Nazi was now demonified to an extent that even their own people came to hate them.

The very interesting Chinese concept of yin-yang talks about how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Many natural dualities—e.g. dark and light, female and male, low and high, cold and hot, water and fire, air and earth— are thought of as manifestations of yin and yang (respectively). In reference to my point, I can say that good and evil are not two separate forces, but two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other. And good and evil actions are also defined by the perceptions in a society. What is considered good and honorable in one society might be considered evil and barbaric in the other. The Japanese samurai believe that their heads must be cut off if they have lost in battle and have hence dissapointed their masters. The yakuza(Japanese mafia) still cut their fingers off if they bring dishonor to their boss in any way. In the west, these acts are considered barbaric but are accepted as norm and expected behavior in Japanese society.

So I must wrap up this article by concluding that there is no good or evil - only a societies perceptions of what is considered a good deed and what is considered an evil deed. I also feel that these perceptions should not be defined by events that happened thousands of years ago and when the only account that we have of these events are probably exaggerated tales. A human being is a complex creature. The yin-yang philosophy talks of a balance that must be maintained between any two opposing forces that make up who we are. This balance is highly important to lead a stress free life. Anyone more interested in reading about this may please google yin-yang, the Taoist philosophies provide for wonderful reading. In any case, these two opposing forces can't be objectively classified as good and evil, according to me. Even Taoist philosophy denounces this idea. 

Which brings me back to the starting point. If good and evil can't be objectively classified as two opposing forces, then by my viewpoint, there can be no God and no Devil. Maybe there is an all powerful being watching over us, or maybe there is no one! But that debate is for another day. But the exorcisms? and the 100's of people throughout history who swear by the process? Maybe, our religious orders had managed to brainwash them so much that they actually thought that they were possessed by the Devil himself and the only thing that could save them was an exorcism performed by a holy man - a priest.  Our human mind works in complicated ways. It sees what it believes to be real. Have you ever seen a horror movie late at night in a cinema house all alone, and got completely spooked on the long walk home along dark alleyways. An innocent cat shadow might have scared you to death at those times. And here we are talking about individuals who might in the first case not be mentally stable and then on top of that they may have been brainwashed into believing something that may not even exist. And after all, fear of the Devil and his forces is what that make people keep believing in ideologies 1000's of years old. These fears are what modern day religions feed on in order to stay alive. And propagating these fears is the principal aim of those few men who govern these religions. These few decide what is right and wrong, what constitutes good and evil. And those, like me, who refuse to adhere to their edicts may be branded as evil heretics, or more gently as 'lost souls'. But i really don't mind. I refuse to have people tell me right from wrong and I choose to stand by own beliefs. 

Worrying Indeed!!!

Year after year, we are witness to a disturbing precedent. The nation has been a victim to a rising number of terrorist attacks organized by a motley of extremist groups supposedly based from our neighbouring countries. The precedent that I'm taliking about is the tendency of our political 'leaders' to put the entire blame for the fiasco on our neighbouring countries. By doing so, they try to take themselves out of the spotlight ignited by national anger. They try to cleverly use the deep rooted mistrust that Indians have for some of their neighbouring countries. They divert the national anger upon others. They cleverly play the blame game and accuse other countries as the cause of all of the nation's plights, while trying hard to hide their own inefficacies. The mob, which is in a fit of shock and rage at this point, readily gobbles up all this propoganda and they fall prey to hate politics.

I'm not trying to excuse our neighbouring countries from whatever crimes that they have committed against us. Terrorism is a heinous activity, and any person or organization that uses terrorism as his/it's policy deserve to rot in hell. What I'm trying to say is that instead of playing the blame game, our 'leaders' need to grow up and take steps to prevent future such disruptions in the healthy life of this nation. But sadly, this does not seem to be the case. Life is still very cheap in India. The issue of public security is still taken very lightly. The police is neigther propperly equipped nor propperly trained to face the challenge of global terrorism. One would have thought that after the disasater of 26/11, the government of India would have learned its lesson. But the blasts which took place on 13/7 recently prove otherwise. What this shows us is that despite promises(never kept) to the people of India, promises meant to safeguard us, the terrorists can still strike at will in the financial capital of india. This city claims to be the nerve center of India. This is a city that is the global face of India, the producer of wealth in our country. In short, this city can be said to be the global face of India, and if terrorists can strike here with such ease, this raises a serious question about the security preparedness of the entire nation.

Why am I here?

What I feel when I sit in a boring lecture.....I am guessing that this holds true for a majority of people....:

Trapped in a big hall, I got bored.

Hours on the bench, my backside was sore.

Greek and Latin to me were the writings on the board

Good at neither was I, my eyes were on the door.

I dreamt of the lilies, I dreamt of the butterflies,

I dreamt of a beautiful girl, waving at me to my utmost surprise.

The world was full of possibilities, if I could only find

A way to leave the hall, leave the dreary place behind.

The teacher droned on in a monotonous voice.

Alas! That I was here out of my own sad choice.

Anna's campaign

Anna Hazare may be the best thing to happen to this country this century. Coming out of relative obscurity, he has completely transformed the fight against corruption and brought it from the innards of our self-conscience and out into the open and right into Delhi, and other centers of power across India. Many wrote him off. The corrupt babu's who currently hold power would never give in to his 'outrageous' demands. Of course, why should they return the money which they had worked so hard to steal in the first place. And so, a battle of will, and of wit and tact began. Baba Ramdev was honoured by no less than 4 cabinet ministers in an effort to sideline the more suave and less dramatic Anna Hazare. But on seeing the kind of mass support that the famed yoga guru had, and because the Swami was in no mood to put a stop to his 'hooliganism and other outrageous activities', those honorable ministers were forced to take police action against him. Of course, the police action was peaceful, but the Baba claims that he narrowly escaped with his life.
(At this point, those who fail to notice the sarcasm in my tone, you are super dumb :P)
So, one person disposed of, the government thought that Anna, the suave, soft spoken, leader of only the elite with no mass appeal cannot possibly be more troublesome than the Baba. There was probably champagne being served at 10 Janpath  that day.
Alas! The celebration was short lived. Beacuse, soo after the episode with Baba Ramdev came to a close, Anna Hazare suddenly became a rock star. He was the new poster boy of the media. Move over all the Rakhi Sawants and Mika Singhs of the world, because Annaji is here to stay. Even India TV, aired exclusives on him. How could a dull social worker from the interiors of Maharashtra without even one scandal to his name could occupy so much prime time, was simply beyond the understanding of all the well fed babu's. But our great leaders, the masters of public administration knew how to cut short a revolution. Cut off the head and the snake dies. So, they went and arrested Anna Hazare. BIG MISTAKE!! :D
The arrest of Anna sparked simultaneous protests in every nook and corner of the country, of the scale probably not seen since independence. The government was aghast. None of the tricks they had up their sleeve seemed to work. They tried mud slinging.....but Anna Hazare's image was immaculately clean. In fact, it seems that all the mud just bounced off him to hit Digvijay Singh splat in the face. They tried negotiating, but Anna Hazare was determined that his demands should be met in totality. In fact, he began his hunger strike write from his jail cell, reminiscent of the freedom struggle. Keeping in tune wit the masses, he declared this movement to be the second freedom struggle. Arresting Anna Hazare provided him with support from virtually every segment of society, be it rich or poor, save for the occasional uncalled for tirade by Arundhati Roy. Rickshaw drivers, and IT professionals marched side by side, chanting slogans in one voice. Celebrities, politicians and Swami's all came down to support Annaji. The government was left with no option but to release him, hoping that the wave of displeasure created by his arrest would eventually die down after his release. As we all know, nothing of the sort happened. Once he was rleased, Annaji smartly used all the new weapons of mass approval in his arsenal and periodically kept on bombing the congress leadership with them. Even Digvijay Singh was now forced to shut up. As a last desperate measure, the age old foreign hand (read USA) card was played. That too failed. The opposition parties made life none the easier for the ruling UPA. The odd remarks of disapproval of Anna's campaign by the odd Lalu Prasad Yadav was drowned out by the development that had happened in a Lalu free Bihar. Good news! Lalu is gone from Bihar, but the samosa still has aaloo in it. And it's probably fried in a lot more hygienic oil now and in a much more peaceful environment, not while staring down the double barrels of a world war 2 vintage rifle. In the midst of all this, leaders like mayawati, for reasons only known to her found it to her benefit to support Anna. Maybe she believes that she can't be caught. How can the future PM of India be put behind bars. The very idea is ridiculou to her. But maybe she should have a chat with Kanimozhi to this effect.
Faced with increasing domestic pressure on account of Annaji's failing health, the ruling government finally had to concede to most of Anna's demands. Brand Anna had won the day. The government had promised to introduce Anna's Jan-lokbal bill in the parliament. But as expected of it, the congress is again taking half hearted steps towards the implementation of this bill. A lot of politicians are probably running scared of this bill, as this bill gives enough power to a committee to investigate any MP found indulging in fraud. As and when that happens, we'll start to have an increasingly empty parliament. Good! At least, that way there will be less ruckus and more work will get done. Maybe it's now time to kick the congress out of office and hope that the NDA under either Narendre Modi or Nitish Kumar can do a better job. If they fail too, we'll kick them out too, and reelect......who? Maybe Annaji should float a party of the educated people of India who can legitimately get elected and work for the country. The masses of this country have been fooled for too long by the shrewed babu's, whose favorite passtime is preying on the hapless civilian and draiing them of their life energy. The people in power today are soul sucking vampires. Maybe that's why, we can't see them in their provinces apart the time when they are campaigning for reelection. Maybe, reelection time is their night and the interim period is their day, it spoils their health to visit their constituencies any other time. That's probably it.....how else can one explain the long absences if they are as honest and efficient as they all claim to be.

This one is for all my college mates! Had an awesome 3 years with all u ppl.........learned many things in BITS....most of all- how 2 take lite...lol :D

How the years rolled on by,

Faster than we hoped they could,

Slower than we hoped they would.

Oh! How the years rolled on by.

In the first, we came here full of expectation,

In the second, we ha a merry time.

The third year brought with it desperation,

The fourth one is heavenly sublime.

I will indeed cherish these times,

I do not wish to say goodbye.

I will remember the laughs we had,

Oh! How the years rolled on by.

But a time must come for us to part,

Until we meet again, once more.

That day, shall merry fanfare renew our young hearts.

As we recount the tales of old.