So I am back form my slumber. Part of the problem was the fact that I could not get enough enthusiasm to fix the language on blogger or maybe the enthusiasm to blog itself in the first place.

But, Anywaaaysss,
wait a minute pleaseeeee,
mayyybe............

And please don't ask me anything about the above three lines. They sum up to be my best experience in the land of the Red Devils.

Strikes dont kill me..................probably never will

And then again WB went back. The root problem is that we can change , evolve and adapt but still a hyena remains a hyena. It just cannot transform into something different even if it wants to. Two really negative events happened during the course of the last week. One perhaps is an ongoing saga that will probably continue. Singur probably is the last effort of mamta banerjee to get an iota of political milege after the sever drubbing in the last elections. Once politicians raised a hue and cry the usual social wannabes and a few activists gathered round the unknown area as flies swarm over sweets. Buddhadev knows what will happen if he lets the Tatas leave. Its a desperate situation for him as WB had been really warming up to the competition in the last couple of years. IT was infact placed outside the purview of strike disruption. IT majors came in hordes but will become hopelessly apprehensive if Singur continues for long. In the midst of this came the AICTU strike. And the only states that were highlighted bear the red flag. Even the IT industry had to bear the burnt of the strike. I dont have any idea whether to support the government or the opposition on the singur issue. A commoner like me would like to see that industries are extended all the facilities to grow and prosper. But at the same time they should not come at the cost of common people. Unfortunately this is precisely what happens in developing countries. And WB govt. is not justified to pay the poor farmers only one and a half the price of their land. Its far too less and if the claim of opposition of it being prime land is true then I am really against the whole idea of this manufacturing unit. But as things stand today there is more at stake than just a piece of land here. The communists will not let anything come in the way of their decision. Not in the only state where they have a semblance of existence , no no wait well the only state which they virtually own. The entire left ego's edifice is at stake and hence singur will happen.And sadly the recuperations wont last long. Sooner the issue will fade from public memory and the social activists will be back in the cool confines of delhi to place a defence for Mohammad Afzal. Not that I am against it but the irony is soon they will have another issue to keep themselves busy. Ditto for what happens in Vidharbha. People make tall promises on the eve of the winter assembly of the Maharashtra legislature but soon the haves fled to mumbai and everything is forgotten. This is the ritual that happens all the time. And shit-headed bastards like me keep jotting this down as if others don't know it. Maybe we lack the guts to do anything and placing blame onto someone is such a kick. It gives a virtual satisfaction without having to do anything physical. The inner angst is thrown out and I become normal once again. Maybe that's what is the job of all the people. This is mine and I keep doing it without doing anything that really matters...............

anger management is essential when.........

To,

The Maintenance,

Aiswarya Lake View Apartment,

Sir, I have to write this letter as I am finding the maintenance office closed by the time I reach home or leave for office. Someone is playing a mischief of disconnecting our cable connection for the past couple of days. I reckon it’s the responsibility of the maintenance to take care of such nuisance and as such I am writing this letter. I can assure you it’s a valid connection and as such you can check it form the cable guy. Also the only reason its taken form outside is because the internal wiring is not working. Also I do not have the time and energy to call an electrician to do the internal wiring. My biggest grouse is how anyone just cut my cable wire can. What sort of indecent and impolite people live in this flat? Who is playing the dirty mischief? I can assure you that the wire causes no problem to anyone but us as its parched high on the ceiling. For an apartment which levies a fine on its people who are late by a day for payment of maintenance such repeated acts erode its credibility if any to zilch. I do not have the time to attend the meetings of the apartment but I still want to know who if at all has any problem with the wire. And as the maintenance person in charge I expect it to be your moral responsibility to ensure that such incidents do not repeat in the future. I also expect you to fix the problem by calling the cable guy whenever you have the time. I apologize for the mistakes in the letter as I am really short on time for the last couple of days.

I hope that necessary and stern action will be initiated against the perpetuators and care will be taken to ensure that such dastardly incidents do not occur again

Regards,

Residents of C 201

What is "jumping the roof" ???

Today (13 Oct 2006) happened to be one of those days that comes and hits back at you every single time you think that you ordeal is finally over. Crazy things happen and one gets screwed over again and again till it becomes an inherent part of your system. Perhaps one might begin to love the struggle, a weird sense of Stockholm syndrome. The day started on an extremely bad taste partly because of an uneasy sleep of 3 hours. And one did not require the nose of a blood hound to smell trouble. The events that unfolded the previous day had put in a rotten state and realizing that I am not going to get much sleep made my little sleeping hours meaningless. Now it so happens that I am uncomfortable driving a bike. Blame it on my university which prohibited its usage or anything but that's the truth. And I for one have no qualms accepting it. But then a certain M convinced me that he is great at it. I had to wake up early to go and book a tatkal ticket. I was supposed to go with a B who would accompany me on my journey. Now a simple plan was to borrow a vehicle and reach B early in the morning. I was delighted to get an assurance from a certain O that he would lend me his vehicle. I for one was under the impression that he had a gearless vehicle. But then again simpletons like me don’t have a single vehicle while people apparently have a whole army. I went to O's place in the night along with M. The prospect of getting a vehicle even if for just a single day had transformed M and a certain A (both being my flat-mates) to heaven. They started planning big things. Castles in the air, unfortunately A's favorite song was ringing its death knell in my head. Did I really need any more signals? The whole universe was trying its level best in trying to dissuade us from plodding the path to collateral damage. But then I dearly needed the tatkal ticket. So I was escorted by M to O's place. Even the lecherous dogs were trying hard to convince me to retrace back. All along the way I got to know from M that there are lots of CCD's in Bangalore. He wanted to hang out at one of them irrespective of the fact that the exact address to any one was not a requirement. On quashing that plan he came up with a plan to buy a shirt in Big Bazaar. Now that's genius, to buy a shirt at 10 pm plus in the night. Can you look beyond utter stupidity for once and marvel at M's desperation at getting his hands on a vehicle. It was perhaps as if M has been locked all his life in a dudgeon and this vehicle was going to be his chance to freedom. He was certainly not letting to have a minor hiccups like closed shop or unknown location come in the way of his long cherished hitherto unknown freedom. Fortunately O stays nearby and I was saved of any more of M's majestic nocturnal plans.

Coming back to O, I was prepared to get a gearless baby. But then after the pleasantries I was presented with a geared one. Apparently only buffoons cannot drive a geared vehicle is the popular notion I guess. But some admit to the same, others try to fake it. Common its not an orgasm but that isn’t going to stop people from doing the things they do. Sensing my apparent discomfort as I dreadfully watched the bike, O started becoming apprehensive. I suddenly realized that I had been blessed with hindsight as I may be a novice in driving but my buddy M was a master. He's driven all sorts of vehicles at home and has often been on long drives too. Believe me I had not seen him drive once but then I had no inkling of disbelieving M. I heaved a sigh of relief and turned to M. I explained to O that M will drive to our humble abode and then in the morning B will drive around to the ticket-counter. I had no reason to believe that the sudden drop in M's adrenaline was alarming. He was suddenly stone cold. I believed it was the chilly night. I told him to take charge of the situation and drive us home. He bravely took out the vehicle and I sat on the pillion without a care in the world. I had absolutely no idea it was the return of the all too familiar "jumping the balcony" syndrome. I would have explained the syndrome except that there is nothing left to explain. It’s as plain as it is literal. It is characterized by pushing the body to its limits physically as opposed to mentally. It involves doing things that will almost definitely be characterized as silly by any sane person. But then people do it in Guinness book and Ripley's and on a bunch of shows. Surely all people are not insane. So M has a tendency of accepting crazy challenges like jumping from the balcony or driving a vehicle pretending you know how to drive. Faking the crap syndrome would be a good term to define such outrageous behavior. So throwing my little concerns like spending the next hour looking for a CCD or staring at a closed big bazaar and trying to purchase a shirt at midnight, I rested my case with O. My credibility was now hanging fully on M's able shoulders. I was prepared to be pained for the night as long as I had a driver till our abode. I was hopelessly confident in M's driving skills. But it seems we did not have much driving to do. My credibility would have survived had we had a normal accident. Speeding youngsters plunge into a gutter would have been a really normal line in an obscure page of a little known daily the next morning featuring my and M's name. (Its been long since my name was there with no chances of it being there now :( ). But know I had to lose my credibility down to smallest iota. The thing that followed was shamefully funny. Funny, for the audience that other than O and his flat-mate consisted only of dogs. As soon as I prepared myself to brace the onslaught of soothing night breeze up my face I heard an unexpected noise. Within no time my bum was kissing the ground and my leg was getting crushed under the vehicle. I was unable to comprehend anything other than this as it was sudden and painful for me. Apparently the overzealous M had made a horse of the bike. As in the bike raised it front wheels as a proud horse raises its legs but then it kept raising and rising till we fell backwards. So much so for the joy ride that M had envisioned and I had trashed. And the bike came crashing down on the front foot rest and my poor left leg. Therein time stopped for what seemed an eternity. M was half as stunned as O. Both we up and standing but were too stunned by what had happened. Poor me, I lay there wrenching in pain and crying out to relieve my foot from the grip of the bike's weight. All of it fell in deaf ears. Within a few seconds both O and M came to their senses. To my utter disbelief and surprise they turned towards the bike to examine the damage. O out of concern M out of perhaps guilt. And no one was willing to move the bike and free my crushed foot. Finally I decided to help myself but it seems you cannot lift a bike when you foot is trapped below the same. A few more moans and shrieks along with the dogs that by now had raised their din to a few hundred decibels. Amid all the chaos I lay writhing in pain trying to free my selves from the weight of a fallen bike and its still fallen riders. Finally when toe could not be crushed further and I had again become victim of the Stockholm syndrome thereby enjoying the pain did O and M relieve me of my misery? That physical fall was just a bike high but the mental one was fathomless. There was an uneasy quiet when everyone was up on their feet, with me still tending my feet. That ensured that I was spared of looking O in the eye. Once O grasped the gravity of the situation he was quick to ascertain the damage. He pointed to the front head-rest which taking a clue from the bike was pointing towards the sky. Like a man-eater it wanted nothing less than being in the lines of Discovery but was as unfortunate as Columbia. Fortunately for the rear foot rest my foot came in as a buffer. That should have pleased O into a familiar giggle that he and his flat-mate are all to (in) famous for. But funny as the situation was, still no one was laughing. O immediately trashed any further test-rides and promptly rode his bike into the safety of his flat. That was the sad end of M's adventure night. It was a realllllly uneasy time. And we just wanted to get our asses off the block as soon as possible. We ran away from the place with dogs all the more energized to prey on us. But perhaps they realized that we weren't the ones to be messed with courtesy the spectacle which they had witnessed. Perhaps stray dogs can be tamed but then they have to be dogs to be tamed.

I trudged back home and spurt into bursts of laughter all the way. Whenever I recollected the memory I could not control my selves. M was a little more demure as was to be expected. Finally my last room mate on our

Lastly why am I writing this stuff? Why is it that after giving up yet another thing I am making a comeback of sorts? How much free time can an individual have even when he has a full-time job? What is it that can fill the seemingly humongous void? I lack two things inspiration and purpose. Till I have both I will continue to have ample time to do such fallacies..........Goodness me more than two decades and yet no sight of the bulls-eye. But I am getting bored of the void and running out of excuses like browsing, business et al just to kill time. It’s really time I find something or at least pretend having found something. At the end of the day things rub off and just as I continue faking things I still believe I will find my purpose. I have lost my patience but am close to losing so much more.......

Syriana and silly me

Oil prices are a very delicate issue in our country. Every now and then the small rise in their prices leads to a lot of hue and cry. And the fact remains that it’s necessitated by international market prices. Being a spectator to the international prices as well as the intense pressure to reign in domestic prices puts the government in a fix. The opposition raises a lot of hue and cry in the parliament and what we end up is a marginal increase leading to the bleeding of the so-called "nav-ratna" PSU's. And the credit for it goes to the opposition sponsored parliament stalls or by the "responsible" government partners who held it to an open ransom for what is conveniently called the outside support.

But does it really matter a tad bit to the common man. I am not talking about the city bred slick urbane “sickos” but the semi-rural millions. So we end up saving the pennies of the conveniently comfortable city-bred dolts. These government cushioned prices ensure that people who would not have dreamed of spending their dough on luxuries like personal transport are happily spending on “imported-fuel”. Is it really necessary? Do we need to shield this blatantly irresponsible community anymore? Why should the government care about such people? If people have enough dough they might still be in a position to purchase what they want otherwise do hell with them. Let there be no subsidies on these imported fuels and people will definitely revert back to some cleaner and cheaper alternative. After all isn’t necessity the mother of all invention. Let’s create a necessity first.

The government can kick in and provide better means of mass transport. All the revenue previously lost to subsidies can be utilized to provide better facilities. This will also ensure that not every Tom, Nick and Harry will burn the imported fuels with government connivance. The spiraling cost will ensure that the automobile companies also come up with a definite plan to counter the fuel problem. Rather than the mad rush to sell more and more vehicles they should allocate more R & D specifically to alternative fuels. If Brazil can use ethanol blended petrol why the hell can’t we do something similar? But even that will be just a start as we have to shake off our reliance totally the sooner the better.

The above discussion is useless unless I specify my moral dilemma in the midst of all this rhetoric. I am supposed to be taking a job in the next couple of months. And all my integrity in delivering the speech above will go for a toss if I too end up falling prey to the gas-guzzling youth tendency. Purchase a bike and vroom past the ethical issues in a jiffy. They say charity begins at home. I can argue I am far away from mine. Either way I stand to lose, as a brash-urbane kid or as a fellow-citizen. What will I end up doing? My guess is as good as yours………… :(

Syriana

The recent removal of Mani Shankar Aiyer was really one of the most painfully sinple ones to comprehend. He was one of the few minister who always hogged the limelight. And for a change he was in news mostly for the good reasons. He ruffled the feathers of the now-struggling Shiv Sena and faced the frenzied party workers in Maharashtra. But he survived the carnage. That was in all probability a fair battle. But then his obsession to secure India’s energy needs proved to be his Waterloo. Once again crucified on the altar for one's sincerity.

Under his steweredship we could finally see some positive government involvement to pull strings and get “friendly” nations on the table. Though the much awaited behemoth amalgamation of ONGC, HPCl, BPCL, IOCL never materialized still ONGC-Mittal consortium was finally putting a brave face infront of the Chinese onslaught led by PetroChina and Sinopec. And considering the fact that even Sinopec (much smaller than PetroChina) is much bigger than ONGC, it was no surpise to see ONGC being out-bid its bigger rivals. We lost most of the African and Russian bids. But still we managed to secure Sakhalin-1 where ONGC made the largest overseas investment. And the fact that he went all the way showed a clear resolve on the part of the ministry that it was commited towards ONGC’s foreign ventures.

It really seemed that Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline would finally materialize. Now am really not too optimistic about the pipeline or its vocal supporter but still for $ 70 million to Pakistan it is certainly more secure than the one conceived through Bangladesh. For me Myanmar and Bangladesh are far too insecure than Iran or Pakistan will ever be. And for that simple logic : there are hardly any oil-exporting countries with stable governments. Certainly the lesser of the two evils should be preferred.

To get cheap oil from as many diversified countries as possible is really one of the better strategies. I admire Hugo Chavez for a variety of reasons, one certainly being guts. The vision he has for Latin America is all-encompassing and if properly implemented just darn good. For the first time the only member of OPEC from that region is spending the money it earns from oil on social initiatives to improve the overall standard of living. And the effects are not confined to Venezuela, but to all of Latin America. And helping the whole process is the emergence of like-minded (leftist) governments in most of Latin America. Be it Michelle Bachelet (Chile) , Eva Morales (Bolivia) or Lulu Silva (Brazil) the entire Latin America is turning left (to the huge dismay of White House’s present incumbents). And Hugo Chavez, along with his good old friend Fidel Castro, is ensuring that there entire region has a balanced socio-economic development. Something the region deserved since a very long time. Being America’s eighth largest oil-exporter does mean that Uncle Sam is watching keenly but Hugo is going unabated to supply cheap oil to all the Latin American countries which Venezuela surprisingly refrained from, in the last century or so. Now my question is that why we are not interested in buying more oil from Venezuela? I am sure it’s a trickier situation with American feathers ruffled over just the Iran pipeline. The recent thaw in Indo-US relations further ensures that anti-American voices are suppressed. So instead of having someone worthy on the Republic day we had the American stooge, Saudi King to be saluted for supplying us with oil and his countrymen with tyranny. We might never be able to be part of the great revolution taking place in Latin America for our proximity to their northern continent’s powerful nation prevents us from being proactive. And I still wish to have Eva Morales as our chief guest next year in his trademark sweater. The final straw was dropped when Eva Morales did not visit India and visited China instead along with so many other nations after he was elected the president. That was really a psychological blow on the face. The comrades hardly let go of an opportunity to pull the government’s legs. In this light, the fact that Eva Morales skipped India despite comrades ruling at the centre was particularly disturbing and reflected poorly on the comrades than on the grand old party. The person who should have been welcomed with open hands was never invited and Bolivia is just a poor land-locked country. And there has been no announcement of aid in the face of the recent floods in that country. The overall internatinal aid stands at a meager $2 million. We offered more to Sri Lanka during Tsunami and all of a sudden we are silent. Diplomacy is tricky issue but humanity should be placed at a higher pedestal.

Then there is the growing economic clout of Russia propelled by its leading gas-exporting state-owned “nav-ratna” Gazprom. Almost all of Europe is increasingly dependent on Gazprom and its not just the the east European countries but Germany and UK well. And Russia is not going to play it easy as was displayed by the recent crisis over gas prices between Russia and the post-orange revolution, pro-west Ukraine. And we are still not making any pro-active attempts to leverage our diplomacy to help some sort of joint collaboration between Gazprom and ONGC.

To top it all Murli Deora is the successor of Aiyer. UPA is certainly going over the top in ensuring that Bush is comfortable during his visit to India. So the unabashedly pro-US Murli happens to be an ideal successor for Aiyer as far as Uncle Sam is concerned but the ministry and the oil PSU’s will lose the zeal and the fizz. In the end it certainly isn’t worth the trouble.

And then people tell me to be an eternal optimist. I am better off being a practical pessimist.