Hard Pore Corn

Ever thought how it would be to take on a police officer because he jumped a signal? While most of us would cringe away and get on with our lives but Swaroop Srinath, a Bangalore resident has chased down an ACP (yes that’s right an ACP) and gave him the chills for breaking the law he was supposed to uphold. That’s not all. This guy, if you read till the end of the post, is a regular offender and a corrupt official.

Read all about Swaroop’s heroics here, on his blog My Bangalore. 

Rang de Basanti anyone? 

Zacarias Moussaoui, the only convicted person in the 9/11 attacks has been rejected death penalty by the jury. Now he will serve a life sentence without possibility of parole.

My only sentiment is thorough dejection and disgust. How can a jury respond to a guilty plea against the charges regarding one of the most heinous crimes in the history of mankind? What justice has this meted out to the families that lost their dear ones in the tragedy? I know that killing one man will not bring back those people. But should he continue to live so that his partners-in-crime can hijack a few planes and get him released? Does the jury deny the possibility of this in its humanitarian decision?

I don’t think any amount of rationalizing can explain this stupid and short-sighted judgement. 

I wanted to write a review on the funeral proceedings of Late Dr. Rajkumar. I guess it’s too late after all the news channels have covered it already. Also I think I should have written this post when the incident happened. Would have been on a more acerbic note. But anyways here goes nothing. Photo courtesy and hat-tip : ExpressIndia.com

Wednesday, 12th April 2006. I get an email from an ex-classmate from Alliance Francaise saying the Kannada actor Dr. Rajkumar had died. I promptly close the window and go back to debugging. And so do hundreds of my colleagues, even Kannadigas. Then comes a flurry of emails from every corner of the world. Through mailing lists, close friends, acquaintances, forwards from god forsaken chains of friends on orkut and last but not least from the transport guys in the company. Buses would leave early that day fearing mishaps. I made a few hurried calls to all my friends and was relieved that they were already travelling towards their respective abodes.

When I reached home myself, I realised that the caveats were not without reason. The normally crowded Airport Road bore an ominous look. People were hurriedly making their ways through alleys. Most shops were closed and the police were shutting down the few that were open. My roomie, the wuss that he is, was shitting bricks inside the house without even venturing out to buy something. Finally I ventured out late into the night and found some grub.

But the real shocker came the next morning. There was no cable. I cussed and cussed and cussed till some coffee happened. Came back home to see Rajkumar’s body surrounded by hundreds of fans (on TV of course). Looked as if they’d do the post-mortem themselves. What followed were riots, riots and more riots. The cavalcade had some lousy fellows who threw stones at glass-clad buildings. Some broke into shops. Some shoved people off their vehicles and set them afire. Some threw burning tyres onto the roads and mind you not without casualties. A TV cameraman even captured a small group of them breaking into a famous petrol pump at Sadashivnagar and stealing food stuff and money. Even Airport Road, which is miles away from where all this was transpiring, felt the heat. A lot of shops lost their expensive glass windows and screens. Buses travelling towards the IT parks were burnt and obstructed by burning tyres. The newly built Microsoft R&D centre at Malleswaram was stoned (not literally ) and all the windows shattered. Similar fate awaited a lot of other IT Companies on Sankey Road. Here are some pics.

Disgusting! Is this what you would call mourning.

Alas one of the few politicians I regarded as reformers has left for heavenly abode. Mahajan according to me had the panache, poise and perspicacity to bring India to the level of a developed nation in whatever capacity he could. Agreed that the divestment of many PSUs was something he set a-roll during his tenure as I&B minister, but it has in eventuality made those sectors more competitive and consumer friendly.

Here’s to the hope that the guy who fills in for him would take our rapidly developing nation to newer highs.

More about this in CNN-IBN’s coverage

The Artists’ Right Society has lost it I must say. In a fit of rage the ARS has pointed out to Google the fact that it was violating artists’ moral copyright to art by changing the logo to reflect the artist’s style. Google, as we know, keeps modifying their logo on certain occasions to pay tribute to people who’ve made a difference to society. They (ARS that is) had also done something similar when Google remembered Salvadore Dali through the medium of its logo. What then is the rationale of this action be ARS? That we should forget the people who gave us masterpieces? Then they must also sue the multitude of remix artists all over the world who mutilate classics and dish-out emetics!!

One turned 23 on the 14th of April. J’ai 23 ans, maintenant.

age += (year) 1; 

Just this Sunday I was with a couple of friends and we were pondering over the mercurial growth of the IT industry in India. I was the only "wicked" person with an opinion that India is no superpower as many people call it. To summarize my argument I would say that India hardly controls the consumer market. As in we do not directly affect what people consume/purchase. That’s where countries like China/Japan/Taiwan step in and make a difference. This article would tell you why I am true and why India Inc. needs to think out-of-the-box.

People are very practical when they are blaming someone else for something. But when it comes to one’s own outbursts, the practicality suddenly vanishes. Kapoof! You may say, ‘That’s why they are called outbursts, dumbass’. But then why do we allow our practical side to be taken over by the bitterness and acerbity that resides within. Does that mean with practicality comes a whole lot of irresponsible and outrageous behaviour without any hint of rationale behind it?

This claimer: This post is entirely written in jest and does not mean any offence to any one person or a group of people in particular .

Well the post has nothing do with the title. Just felt like squeezing in a Beatles’ number into one of my posts. The sun part however came because of the fact that I went to a restaurant on Saturday evening. Or was it Friday. But we shouldn’t really entrap ourselves in timelines so much. What is more important is the revelation that I had. Bangalore has a place for gays…erm or should I say the homosexually inclined…to hang out.

According to Pehelwan, who heard from a very reliable source, the place is run by and, as we realized slowly as the evening progressed, for gays. Should have guessed the moment I saw the bottle of Evian on each table. Every couple that walked in was horribly lop-sided as regards sex. Most of them were firangs. I kept eyeing the place in total enchantment after I was given to understand this little piece of information. It was very tastefully decorated. What’s more…they even had really nice music playing. I don’t wanna sound like a discriminating asshole, but gays clearly have the best taste in absolutely anything.

I kept waiting for the waiters to break into an impromptu "YMCA" performance but was left dissatisfied on that front. Had some red wine which made the evening a bit more fun than the usual teetotaller nights we have. Also it made the food, which wasn’t anything great…yes even the apple pie, easy to gulp.

All in all a fun evening. If you aren’t too hungry and are in the mood for some expensive fun…do try this place for sure. I hear their Philadelphia (another gay connection) Cheese Cake is the real thing.

Till date I thought my name meant unparalleled in Sanskrit. But a search on Wikipedia.org gave this result with 100.00% relevance.
Take a bow, subjects, take a bow!

Yes. The iconic CBGB, which defined and introduced punk rock during the ’70s and ’80s, has completed its lease period. And now the New York city high and mighty want to bring down the axe upon it. Please don’t let this happen. Let us not let an era end like this. Click on the banner in the sidebar and sign-up the petition to save this heritage building.

In Bangalore, a lot of times one comes across these boards declaring the statistics on the accident scene. According to them the number of people dying of accidents has drastically gone down over the years. It seems they’re thankful to the road safety police for that. What else do you get from the huge red letters that read
“THANK YOU BANGALORE TRAFFIC POLICE”
But I think the real reason lies somewhere between the layers of bitumen. Or rather the spots where there is none. The multitude of potholes in Bangalore is, according to me, the real miracle worker behind the scenes. Well if you can’t take the tachometer beyond 20 kms/hr you can’t really hit someone fatally enough to kill them.
With there being a pothole every one meter on the roads , it suddenly feels a hell lot safer on the roads
Check out this one. Bangalore Pot Hole Directory.

According to Guardian, the number of girl foetuses that are killed every year has slowly but surely reached the 0.5 million mark in our country. It’s shocking to see that in this day and age so many parents choose to abort the child if it is found to be a girl in a pre-natal sex determination test (which by the way is illegal)
Most shocking is the following line:
In households where the mother had better education, it was significantly more likely that the birth of a girl would not be followed by the birth of another girl.

Check out the rest on Guardian Unlimited.

I have often wondered what the source of true joy could be. And upon pondering enough and finding no solution, I have left it at that. But this morning I was reminded of someone by someone else and the solution came rushing to me as the stench from a typical Bangalore gutter.
The joy of living truly dwells in being a slave driver. Believe it or not, you cannot derive such unadulterated pleasure from anything else. Not even from chocolate. Oh hell…..not even from sex!!!
Imagine the whole world doing your chores. Dropping you off at your rendezvous when they’re not even gonna wait back and say “Hi!” to the 3rd party. Buying you your most coveted delights, without a gesture in return. Laughing heartily at your worn-out, pale jokes as if their lives depended on it. Dispensing ideas to you like an automaton so you can boast to your friends (or other potential slaves) about how you thought of it while you were choking on food. Also the food in question was bought for you by the slaves, but they can’t talk about it, can they? And oh yes, listening to your “almost always wrong” advice on anything and everything. What fun, I say!!!
Losers do exist in this world, waiting for that mediocre person with an uncanny talent to trap them with their pitiful stories and even more pitiful looking faces. One look and the losers will go out of their way to cloak the puddle as the dominant smile on the now not-so-pitiful face splits like a banana under the weight of the cream.
So, what’re you reading this for? Go get your own.

Thanks to a post by Ramanand long back, I decided to listen to this new ARR offering. Must say I’m pretty impressed. ARR has come up with another gem. Full of youth and vigor. My favourites from the list are “Rang de basanti”, “Lukka Chhuppi” and “Paathhshaalaa”.
Check out Ramanand’s post if you need a synopsis before you go and buy it.

P.S: I could have posted a link to the online source where I found the songs, but then I don’t want to cut short my e-life. So samajhdaar ko ishaaraa kaafi and exit stage left to Google :)