In search of myself...

Percy Shelley did remark quite an era ago that when winter came, spring wouldn't be far behind. His poetic rendition on a beautiful fact of life is true, but I would recommend another season to Mr. Shelley and wish he would be / were already reborn in Chennai to appreciate this fact. So, assuming that the then Shelley, now reborn as probably a Selvaraj, is able to telepathically get the import of this blog, I continue... I was in an air-conditioned car today in the middle of a test track about 100 km from Chennai. It was a good start to a day of testing and everything seemed to be going smooth until about 9:30 am. Slowly, the pleasantness of the confined comfort zone started to express the crude reality of the world outside. The day was actually getting as hot as it was bright. I checked the computer to let the reality of the rising mercury sink in and it was about noon when I yelled with joy at seeing 40 deg Celsius. As someone who was brought up in the natural oven that is C...

I was recently going through the list of Bharat Ratna awardees and was surprised at a few things that crossed my mind as I scrolled down those big names. First, the qualification for a few people to have been awarded a Bharat Ratna was like this... "interim prime minister", "sixth president", etc... Is becoming prime minister or president an eligibility for a Bharat Ratna? This might be an easy question to evade by telling that the work they have done during their respective terms is what qualifies them to be a recipient of the prestigious Bharat Ratna. Second, there are only 3 awardees from the actual list of 41 winners that are living today - Dr. Abdul Kalam, Lata Mangeshkar and Prof. Amartya Sen. Many people have been awarded in the same year as their death, or a few years (2-3 years) before their death. Why would the committee realize that the individual is actually a "Ratna" so very late and so close to their death? I am only talking of the major...

with every dawn, i need to start the fight to set my eyelids apart. each day reminds me i am a clerk who travels a lot to do some work. the beauty of dawn's killed as it breaks by the ride to work and the effort it takes. why should one do this? and to what end? why'd work make all stretch their bend? what pleasure's seen? where's the charm? why anything else than an otherwise calm? it may be the job, if not the money and people at work, sweet as honey. there's one big reason, one above all that makes people keep rolling the ball it is the anticipation that past each day we fend, we move much closer to that evasive weekend!!! HAPPY FRIDAY..........

The drivel in this blog is purely a product of the limitless frustration I have, on the absolutely pathetic and dismal performance of the Indian cricket team that is now staring at another defeat in Adelaide, Australia. The only consolation here is that this loss was on the fifth day, compared to the earlier defeats. Losing is an essential part of the game, but regular loss abroad only tells there is something terribly wrong somewhere. And when India loses, laymen like me actually get the right to criticize; I'll put it to use. Few things went right for India. A famed batting line up suffered in front of persistent and penetrating fast bolwing. I mean FAST!!! Our bowlers were shown all round the park and Australia's run rates were consistently around 4 RPO. That's frikkin high for a test match. Vinay Kumar tried being aggressive by bowling bouncers to David Warner at 120 kph. It was pulled past the boundary at probably 200kph!!! If this was one series to be ignored, what a...

There is no time of the year like Christmas! I just love it. There is no traffic on the roads. No work to be done at office. Deadlines automatically relax by a couple of weeks. And you still get paid for it without exhausting precious privilege leave! I love this time of the year. Celebrating Work, indeed!

The traditional way of annual maintenance of vehicles / machines etc. is called Ayudha Pooja and falls on the last day of Navaratri. This Ayudha pooja was a little special as an incident left me amused! I landed in Bangalore after a hectic Delhi trip late in the afternoon on Ayudha pooja day, only to find my wife waiting for me at home - to wash my motorbike so that she could do the honors with the turmeric, vermilion and sandalwood paste. Obediently (no other choice), I took the bike to get it washed. I was charged Rs. 10 extra for the excess water that had to be spent in washing the bike. I resisted, but the mechanic was adamant that he had to spend a fortune in cleaning my vehicle. I was irritated, but the devil in me made me proud of the distinction! I narrated this to my wife who only remarked that I would never change - her common dialogue when she doesn't find words to express herself or defeat my argument!! Lol...

If the word "traffic" were an adjective in the English language, its superlative would have been called "Bangalore". I have seen really bad traffic jams in many places, but have always known this to be a sporadic thing. Beautiful Bangalore boasts of this on a diurnal basis. Every stretch of road is pregnant with smoking vehicles. The planning authorities are hell bent on having buses stop immediately after traffic signals for a never-ending queue of people to board and unboard, thus choking the flow at a green light. The longest trailers / trucks with absolutely no or capacity load on them can ply on Ring Road during the peak hours at high speeds ranging between 5 and 10 kmph. To top it all, maamaas (traffic cops, as known in Tam land) stop these trucks for money-milking right amidst peak traffic. Pedestrians cross at will at the K R Puram station junction, with no regard for a bus speeding toward them. At their very sight, the bus driver must stop. And ...