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Qatari Corner Guy (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/)

It was like no other visits to a stadium. Simply because past visits have been to support home teams, or probably countries we reside in. If you have no clue as to what I mean, here I go.

It was Qatar vs. Uzbekistan (World Cup 2010 qualifiers) here in Doha (where I reside). What goes through your mind when you have to chose the team you need to support when none of them has anything to do with your origin? I know the decision is pretty much random, but I decided to cheer for Uzbekistan and sat in their patch. There were very few (sum odd 30) Uzbekis in the whole stadium and my sympathies for the visitors made me support them.

It was somewhat amusing to see the energy of these football enthusiasts. Enthusiasts from all around the world. They don’t have the number one team in the world. Not close to even the top 20. But the spirit was just in the air. I was so sure they travelled thousands of miles just to make sure their team felt they had people who cared for them and wished to see them win the games. I remember the large flags (trust me they were huge, the cloth hit me many a times), the small portable speaker system which the fanatic with the flag painted on his face had, the t-shirts with the most provocative messages and everything that constituted national love. I can still recall the drenched Uzbeki who was wearing nothing but the flag of the country and the one played the drums all the times. Even though the Qataris outnumbered the Uzbekis by around 100 times, these guys were louder. It’s all about the spirit! Felt good watching these guys back their team till the very end. They lost 3-0. But I believe they will still go to the next league match irrespective of what has happened and yell for their nation!

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Not just from my meager experience of working in small clubs and organizations, but I come with this from a good sense of observation around.

It’s the not-so-informed female bothering me this time. Have you ever had a situation like this: when you went to a meeting over-prepared and too loud to be ignored and see that there is another person, other than the 15 executives spending hours of planning – another person in the room who gets the attention of the leading man who happens to the President, CEO, Head etc. It’s the pretty female. The pretty female who has no or very little sense of the seriousness of the topic being discussed. The young pretty lady who is the guest invitie just because she happens to be around at the time of the meeting.

Isn’t it utterly frustrating when the charm of the woman takes precedance over your hard work for your boss? In a while you realize he (usually old and ugly) has a common consensus with the woman (irrespective of the complete bullshit she speaks). When she has totally no idea how things are dealt with in your organization. When her NIL or very little knowledge seems no lesser than doctorate thesis to the head. HE seems to forget your relentless efforts and time-consuming tasks, loyalty and experience and has a “I think SHE makes good sense” for everything she says!

Dear Readers

The crackdown on drunk driving has definitely made the Mumbai roads safer. But the traffic police are taking the enthusiasm a bit too far, and are implementing a ban on music in cars across the city. They believe this will prevent drivers from getting distracted while driving, and will thus reduce road accidents.

An excerpt from the Mid Day (26/08/08): Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, Suburban) S M Sabde said, “Talking on the mobile phone while driving distracts the driver. As does listening to music.” He added that those guilty of playing music in a car will be fined Rs 500 under Section 190 (2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, which deals with violation of standards of road safety, control of noise and air pollution. Why did the cops suddenly decide to crack down on music? “The law always existed. All we are doing is follow it seriously, to prevent losing innocent lives. I have already instructed traffic policemen in my jurisdiction (Mahim to Dahisar) to be extra cautious about such violators. We will come down heavily on them in the coming days,” Sabde reiterated.

Agreed that there should be a fine on loud music in vehicles. But a complete ban on music? It may in fact worsen the problem. I think we all agree that driving on the roads in nearly every major city in India is a stressful and pissing off activity during peak hours. Music is obviously the only way out. From now on the phenomenon of road rage, mostly limited to games like Burnout and Need for Speed, will be something commonly seen on the Mumbai roads.

Those in the radio business will definitely be affected. Radio stations connect these poor souls stuck in cars that are in turn stuck in traffic jams to the world outside that of long rows of vehicles, most of them having pissed off, irritated drivers at the wheel with a chronic habit of honking furiously and swearing at other drivers.

And I fail to understand, how exactly are the traffic cops supposed to distinguish between those cars that have music playing in them from the ones that don’t? Surely, it is impossible to do so unless the music is either very loud or the cop decides to stop the car and check if the guy inside is “distracting” himself with music. Or in extreme cases, such vehicles are identifiable if any of the occupants of the vehicle are seen making weird gyrating movements (imitations of Pappu Cant Dance and Dard-e-Disco are also classified as weird gyrating movements). If the occupant in question is a passenger, the cop is required to verify whether or not it is a personal media device that the music is being played out of. And if it is a personal media device, it has to be verified if the music is being listened to with a pair of headphones thereby not causing any “distraction” to the driver.

I really don’t think betel-chewing beedi-smoking traffic cops would fancy going through the above process for the sake of traffic rules. I predict that to eliminate the lengthy process described above, the next thing that will be banned by the Mumbai Traffic Police will be car stereos and decks. The Traffic Police Dept needs to understand that if there are not enough hats to go around, the problem isn’t solved by lopping off some heads.

Yours Ludicrously

Dear Readers

The following is a news article that focuses on the poor treatment of our freedom fighters, published by the Press Trust of India:

Freedom fighter lives life of neglect and penury

Ruby Nanda
New Delhi, Aug 24 (PTI)

She is a freedom fighter who is fighting another battle — the battle for survival.

Laxmi Panda of Orissa’s Koraput district, who joined the Indian National Army in Burma and fought against the British, is caught in abject poverty and had to work as a maid servant, a shop attendant and a daily labourer.

Panda (84) was here last week to air her grievances before President Pratibha Patil who assured her all possible support from the government.

The freedom fighter has been abandoned by her son and also by the government. She has been running from pillar to post for her freedom fighter pension.

The state government recognises Laxmi as a freedom fighter and gives a paltry pension of Rs 1,000. But the Centre has denied Panda, who fought alongside stalwarts like Captain Laxmi Sehgal, the status of freedom fighter just because she was not arrested by the British.

“Had she been arrested by the British and got a police record, she could have got a pension of Rs 15,000 per month, enough to sustain herself,” says Anil Dhir, a researcher on INA.

Till recently, the octogenarian was sharing a hut with her “drunkard” son who threw her out, leaving her homeless. Once Panda had decided to end her life by immolating herself wrapped in the national flag.

But a positive response by the President, Prime Minister’s Office and Congress president Sonia Gandhi has enthused the frail lady to live on, said Dhir, who is instrumental in tracking her down.

(Click here to view original page)

Disgusting, shameful, disgraceful and shocking. It is often said that India’s youth is not as patriotic as a few generations ago. But who is to blame: the youth itself, or the government that neglects those who put their lives on the line for the country?

Yours Ludicrously

so theres this very irritatin bit of malware thats been doin the roundz of the internet for a couple of months………..named XP Antivirus 2008

Infection #1

back in april…..on my moms laptop…..shed been browsin,wen sm antivirus thingy popped outta her taskbar n showd a report dat said the comp hd been infected wid abt 3 trojans(no report from avira whatsoever),and recommended a site which had specific removal tools for them…………..so she went on the said site n clicked download………..this then downloaded a file,and then proceeded to open about a 100 windows of internet explorer,when she’d tried to close them via task manager,it showed that it task manager could only be opened and used by administrator,which was pretty awkward,as she was on her administrator account……………….

Recovery #1

transferred firefox to her laptop via usb………searched around for a specific tool to kill the malware……….

found a symantec tool for it,which didnt quite work,so finally had to perform a system recovery to about 12 hours before the infection……………..

All is well.
Infection #2

last week,again on mom’s laptop………………she’d opened a spammy ecard which found itself in her outlook inbox……………….and again appeared the little icon in the taskbar,and its trusty sidekick,telling her that there were more than 126 viruses and trrojans on the disk,in the form of a fake report……………..no internet explorer manipulation this time around……….the wall paper changes to a fake report about how many viruses there are on the drive,and the display properties menu is locked….the administrator bullsh*t again………..

Recovery #2

went online,searched fo specific fix…….nothing in sight…………….had to try to restore the system,which somehow,decided only to let me restore to about 5 minutes ago,which,as tou all knw,is next to useless…………….with the last loss-free option gone,the only thing that could be done to save moms old laptop,was to completely reformat the c drive………………….

So,we said good bye to all the data on the c drive,and were left lamenting for a better antivirus(avira failed again)………..

Moral of the entire story:NOD32 and Kaspersky ar he only 2 functional antivirus systems in todays world.

All is well,except for an astonishingly empty c drive.

Dear Readers

The latest rumor in the India political sphere: the Congress is sporting Rahul Gandhi as its next candidate for the post of PM. Even though it is too early to confirm the rumors, it is quite obvious that Rahul Gandhi is suddenly a major player in the Congress. With the General elections not very far away, this doesnt seem like just a coincidence.

Until a few months ago, the controlling hand of Sonia Gandhi was usually unseen and discreet. Sonia Gandhi, alongwith son Rahul, is now becoming a more public figure, much in contrast to the earlier approach.

Priya Sahgal of India Today in an article has said, “It seems like 10 Janpath has begun work on Rahul’s leadership profile. If the Congress is to be educated about the nuclear question, then Rahul is a key speaker. When the Government had to send a representative to Beijing, it was not Manmohan Singh but Rahul and Sonia who boarded the plane to China. There he signed an MOU with the Communist Party of China. The mother and son also caught up with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and built Rajiv Gandhi’s rapport with his mother Benazir.”

I couldn’t agree more with Priya. While most countries send their heads of state, India sent the head of the Congress Party to Beijing.

Another excerpt from the article by Priya Sahgal: “Last month, Sonia had announced two new committees comprising Union ministers and party officials to draft the political strategy for the next polls. As a member of the manifesto committee, Rahul will play a key role in Campaign 2009. He may not be the prime ministerial candidate, but he certainly is the pan-Indian star campaigner. For the young scion, it is party time now.”

The Congress seem to have taken a leaf out of Barack Obama’s book, and are now operating on the principle of iconic leadership. Young Rahul seems to be the perfect poster boy for this kind of an iconic leadership. If the Congress and its allies do manage to win next year’s General election, I think Rahul will surely make the Cabinet list, if not PM.

Rahul is now doing more in the Congress than just going on Garib Yatras and Discover India tours. He gave us a glimpse of his leadership credentials at the recent trust vote, where he was one of the speakers from the UPA. And I admit, I was mighty impressed by his speech which caught the imagination of the rest of the nation as well. Videos of the speech were instant hits on YouTube, with many users expressing their approval of Rahul.

One thing is certain: Rahul will give Mayawati, who is also being touted as a strong contender for the post of PM, a run for her money. At the moment, he seems to be riding a wave of popularity among the young and old of the country alike, whereas Mayawati’s support is mostly limited to her Dalit fan following. The young man seems like a breath of fresh air to Indian politics, which is stereotyped as corrupt and incompetent and run by boring old men and women in a still developing nation. It wouldnt be wrong to call him the Barack Obama of India. But will this wave take him all the way to the ultimate position in the Indian echelons of power: the PM’s chair?

Yours Ludicrously

Dear Readers

A happy Independence Day to all Indians. Here’s a poem I wrote on the occasion of our 62nd Independence Day.

At the stroke of the midnight hour
As the world sleeps
India will awake to life and freedom

These were the words he said
The great man Nehru
And pronounced the British Raj dead
As India was born anew.

Two centuries of struggle and sacrifice
And bloodshed and violence
Had been the price
For this independence.

It was at the Red Fort
Where men and women, boys and girls
Erupted into a joyous rapture
As the tricolour unfurled

It was a proud and joyous day
For all Indians, young and old
For after so many years in fray
India was at a new threshold.

Today India stands at par
With the world’s best
She has made it this far
Overcoming every tribulation and test.

Today, 61 years from that day
India stands tall and strong
And I feel proud to say
To this great nation I belong.

E-vatan, tujhsa koi nahin
Duniya mein sirf ek hi Hindustan
Garv ke saath mein yeh kehta hoon
Ki mera Bhaarat mahaan.

Yours Ludicrously

Read in the news recently: Condoms and safe sex are not even mentioned in the new sex-ed modules being planned by govt. The plan is, instead, to advocate abstinence and being faithful to a single partner.

Agreed, abstinence is the best way to avoid STDs and pregnancy, but, well, it’s obvious not too many people are going to go for it. Sex is no longer the taboo, confined only to the bedroom and the mind. Once again, we’re finding out just how good it is.

Monogamy, si, a noble idea. Mom gave me huge long lecture recently about how we just get into relationships for the fun, how we should focus on our lives first and not on relationships, seeing that they take up a lot of time and energy.

She’s right, I suppose, and that’s the reason I’m a bit scared of relationships as opposed to fling-things. Though, as kay sniffily told me, a lot of people don’t share my opinion.

So yes, all this is very good and all, very good that they’re FINALLY introducing sex-ed (god knows we need it….). It might be a bit giggly and embarassing at first, but it’d be infinite help, seeing that a lot of us learn about sex and other things related either from porn or from friends who are VERY open with conversation, or online on those sites that ISPs love to block. Those of us who don’t, are rather confused, though no one admits it.

Sex ed would stop men in their twenties writing to the Mumbai mirror sexpert with queries like “Will kissing my girlfriend on the lips make her pregnant?” Yes, I’ve seen this and similar ones more than twice in the past fortnight. The reply is almost invariably a frustrated “educate yourself.”

But ’tis rather strange that the words “condom” and “safe sex” get not even an honourable mention ………My tenth grade bio book went only as far as to mutter shamefacedly about copulation. One word. that’s it. Our bio teacher didn’t even do that part properly. but then again, that was Bio.

My point being that maybe we should be taught everything there is to know, and we should choose the path we wish to tread.

Abstinence, any takers?

Apparently not, and not all thaaaat many for birth control either…..the proof lies in our population.