RIP Michael

So finally Michael is resting in peace ...

Yesterday’s memorial service was perhaps one of the most emotional events that I ever witnessed ... experienced ... in my life. Still can’t believe that Michael is dead ... yesterday’s service was an apt way to provide closure to millions and millions of his fans ... and most importantly ... the Jackson family.

It’s so heartening to see that MJ still has a massive following ... millions and millions of people mourning in grief ... celebrating his life. His music ... fresher than ever ... still topping the charts ... speak volumes for the man ... simply known as the King of Pop. I would say that Michael was simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived. It would take a super human effort to achieve anything close to what MJ accomplished. I won’t see it happening in my lifetime at least. God must have broken the mould ...

It’s just so sad that the whole world connected with him (again) ... when he died. For the better part of the last decade or so ... people really questioned him and his abilities. For yesterday night ... the whole world seemed to be in awe and grief of his sudden demise. I wish Michael could see this ... this would have really healed his soul.

I still get goose bumps thinking about yesterday’s memorial service ... and I won’t say that I didn’t felt like crying while watching it on TV. I never knew MJ personally ... his loss felt personal. I never thought that I could feel so emotional ... human nature may be.

Rest in peace Michael!

Three Zero: The Beginning

OMG !!! What a weekend (and its aftermath). The relevant world seems to be experiencing some amazing (and sweeping) developments.

First and foremost – yours truly is finally in the 30s club ... an exclusive but somewhat depressing company (d’uh!!!). I would be honest ... I wasn’t too happy about it. On 15th night ... I literally felt like crying. At exact midnight, I received a call from my sis and bro-in-law (expectedly ... the first ones to wish me) and then I heard the voice of my niece ... she also wished me in her own kiddy lingo (albeit forced by my sis ... ahahahaha). My niece is just 17 months old ... she doesn’t care if it’s my birthday or whatever ... she kept on yelling “neenu neenu” (translation ... I want to sleep ... ahahahaha). But when she realized that my sis is having none of it ... she reluctantly said “yappy budday” (translation Happy Birthday ... cho sweeeeeeeeet). If only life can be so cute and sweet all the time.

16th evening ... mom made some delicious pizzas ... I cut a cake (no candles ... thank you very much) and celebrated my life (or should it be AGE) altering birthday with my family ... quite and peaceful. The next day ... it was time to go out and celebrate with some good friends ... and by that I mean ... reason to booze out ... ahahahahaha. So I called up Sonal, Honey and AnnuMan (did not came because of his dental appointment).

16th was general election result day as well ... and beating all the pollsters ... the Congress led UPA gained an unexpected majority. Wuhuu ... I was supporting them ... not because they are the most honest party or whatever ... but more because there is no real alternative. And we need a stable government to handle these turbulent times.

On 18th, the stock market seemed more excited than a kid in a candy store. It raced ... no zoomed ... no went berserk. For the first time in history of secondary markets, the Indian Stock Exchange (both BSE and NSE) hit the upper circuit breakers (twice). Less than a minute of trade happened and the entire day has to be suspended. It is nothing sort of a miracle if you ask me. Who in their right minds would have predicted this ... and that too when the whole world is in recession.

Finally some good news from neighboring country ... Sri Lanka. They ended their decades old civil war by eliminating the militant organization – LTTE. India is surrounded by a very bad (and most dangerous) neighborhood. It is in our favor that some part of it may return to normalcy soon. Amen to that ...

So ... all in all ... a very exciting last 3-4 days. My 30th started with some positive news ... hope the good times just keep on rolling like that.

Cheers !!!

Unrighteous Religion

What a horrendous week it was ... India’s economic hub – Mumbai – was held hostage by 10 terrorists (official figures). Just like a scene from a B-grade desi flick, the terrorists came in small boat via Arabian Sea and attacked Hotel Taj (which is located by the shore), Hotel Oberoi-Trident and Nariman House. More than 200 people were killed and around 400 injured. The security forces also killed 9 terrorists and nabbed 1 alive. The terrorists were absolutely ruthless and barbaric. They were shooting at sight ... indiscriminately, which makes me wonder ... WHY? The motive of all these jihadists is simple – to kill or be killed for the sake of their religion. They preach that they are fighting for all the Muslims ... yet they do not even blink while shooting their own brothers and sisters. More importantly, is this the only way to raise concerns. My answer is unequivocally NO. We all are living in a civilized society; we all must behave civilized. This is not 10000 B.C. for gods’ sake.


Yesterday I was watching a documentary on 9/11. They showed how the terrorists get training and how they get into suicide trance. Most of the high profile suicide attackers (fidayeen) are well-educated (hell ... in western universities) young people. They have their entire life in front of them. Yet they choose to kill until death. Funnily, the extremist leaders brainwash the young minds ... and get this ... the prize they say is to bed 72 virgins in heaven. What a load of BS !! These young men are told that not only they will go to heaven ... they will also be greeted by 72 virgins (Hoor Al-Ayn ... beautiful maidens). I know I know ... its jaw dropping. I am not a Muslim specialist, but I am not sure that this is what Allah meant when he preached the religion. However, if this is one of the reasons of martyrdom then I am at loss of words. The kid who never got laid in real life ... is expecting to be the stud in afterlife. It is so funny that I almost fell of the couch when the commentator in the documentary spoke of it.

Come to think of it ... sex/lust and religion has a very strong bond (no pun intended). Every religion has some kind of reference to sex/lust. In fact in most religion it plays a very central role. Let me summarize few important mythological sex/lust tit-bits

• In Hindu religious stories (well I’m a Hindu even though I don’t really believe in organized religion, but I was raised a Hindu so I know few stories), Maharishi Vishwamitra was tempted by Meenaka (she was a pari ... a fairy). Vishy was a holy man and he was a celibate (ahahahaha !!!!). However, Meenaka broke his self-control and bedded him.
• The entire Ramayana (one of the most religious holy book) was based on the central theme of Sita’s kidnap by Ravana. Sita was Ram’s wife (one of the most famous Hindu deities) whom Ravana (the evil king of Lanka) kidnapped because he wanted to marry her.
• Even Mahabharata (another important religious holy book) happened because Duryodhana stripped his own bhabhi (wife of elder brother)
• In Christianity (and Islam), Adam and Eve were commanded to be fruitful and multiply ... look what happened. We just crossed 6 billion mark :-). Both of the religion has strict rules and regulations for sex/lust (remember Eros !!!).

I can see a point in fighting for what you believe in. However, the beliefs should be real ... they should not be imaginary or mythological. A soldier dies because he believed in his country and compatriots, however the same should not hold true for all those who die for religion. Weather anyone likes it or not, we have created our own religions. This is a fact. And we created it as a fall back option. Religion is nothing more than a comforting factor; a false make-belief that someone cares for us when everything seems lost. I know this may sound very crude but this is what I think. To kill or be killed in the name of religion is nothing but an utter waste of life. Those who die for it deserved to be dead. They had it coming. When you know that you will die one day, then why not make the most of the time when you are alive ... if you are man enough, you can bed more than 72 hoors while you are not sleeping (if you know what I mean). The crux of most religion is the aspect of “homing mechanism”, which roughly translated as all the God’s creation must draw back to God himself. It sounds like having one's cake and eat it too. C’mon don’t make your god look like a lowlife. I am sure while creating religion and god, people had a bigger image of god in their mind.

Few world events

H’uh ... its been long ... isn’t it ...

Anyhooo ... well nothing major happened in my life ... life is as mundane as it can be ... I wake up ... go office ... come back home ... sleep ... and so on and so forth ... nothing special happened in last 7-8 days ...

However, quite a few historic events occurred in world history ... like the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 (Moon Craft). It was a very proud moment for India as it launched its first ever unmanned moon mission and this week it entered into lunar orbit. With a budget of less than $100 million, it was one of the cheapest space missions. This mission created a world record by successfully launching 10 satellites in one go. As a result, it shattered the previous record of a Russian rocket that successfully launched eight satellites last year. Do you know that India has 11 national communications satellites in orbit – the largest for any country in the Asia-Pacific region. India also has 7 remote sensing satellites in orbit, the largest number of any country in the civilian domain. Almost a third of the global market for remote sensing images at a resolution of 5-6 meters has already been captured by India. Mind blowing isn’t it? India is in an elite list of selected countries that has such sophisticated technologies. India’s space organization, ISRO (setup 35 years ago), has a yearly budget of mere $1bn as compared to NASA’s $17bn. Moreover, due to various sanctions because of nuclear tests, nobody helped India in such sophisticated technology. So the achievements are all the more impressive.

Another first ... America elected its first ever colored candidate ... that was huge. The whole world stood up and took notice of that event. The euphoria in India (especially among the Indian media) was unprecedented. It was like we are having an election and electing someone from minority. At one point of time ... I just had it with all the hype. I know that was a big deal in USA ... but c’mon ... he is after all just another president and being an Indian we should look at that with Indian perspective. Let us not forget that Obama’s rhetoric against outsourcing should not make us happy ... after all Indian resurrection in last 15 years is greatly helped by the outsourced jobs. Obama is not too happy about the nuclear deal either ... he wants us to sign the CTBT, which effectively means we would surrender our right to conduct nuclear test. So his pre election speeches are not very good for us. I hope those speeches are just that ... speeches ... he doesn’t act on them

On a more serious note (ahahahaha) ... India won the Border-Gavaskar trophy by pounding the Aussies to a humiliating 2-0 series victory. Team India is taking long strides and if the consistency continues, we will be the kings of all the three forms of the game. Yippie !!!!

Well still trying to recover from seasonal cold ... have taken 2 days sick leave and hope to join office tomorrow. Sitting idle at home is not fun ... thank god I still have a job ... ahahahaha

So long ... see you all soon ... cheers