Music and the Gods !

Music seems to connect everybody and when humans wish to reach out to the Gods there is no other better way to do this - sing .

I've had the privilege of witnessing this devotion this Ganesh Chaturthi in Bangalore . I didn't have to venture too far since the loud speakers are just a few hundred meters aways .

I tried verifying the build and make of these loud speakers but in vain since they have crossed so many hands that no numbers are visible . The only thing which makes them worthy is how loud they can play a song , the sound quality here does not matter (so if you are a Bose fan you know you are looking at the wrong place).

From morning 7 am to night 11 pm these songs fill the atmosphere , the earth , the wind , the water and more importantly your ears . Right from classical to the Tollywood and Bollywood numbers(this is to make sure we are not far behind Hollywood) everything is all mixed up in a way which can force a DJ to think and admit : all these years I've been wasting my life at the Pubs .

The Gods for sure have to listen , after all that's the loudest we can sing for them . A little more decibel will make the rest of us loose our ear drums .

The devotees throng , dressed up for the occasion . Some where I feel it still has to do with the girls . Yeah hold on if you got offended and feel tempted to chip in .

Almost all the organizers line up in devotion around the God ogling at who ever passes by or tries offering something to the deity . In the night we have a grand party where female artists sing and dance to the numbers .

The men get drunk , the party continues , the crowd keeps pouring , the music continues , the stars and the moon gaze in excitement as if to say - the Gods are watching , let the music play !!

The Car , the Plastic and the Gods !!

This is by an Indian , and can only be understood by an Indian , the others can give it a try and see if this makes sense .

Buying a car in this part of the world is a big affair . Big enough for your family , your uncles family , your friends , and many more unknown relations to participate . The more a middle class family you belong to the more advices you “ must “ seek .

On the delivery day the car rolls out with plastic sheets covering the seats . Dare you try removing them since they serve two purposes if not three -

a) The neighbors have no other way to figure out if you bought a new car or a pre-owned car . Now there is too much at stake.

b) The seat covers have to last a life time so the only way is to use the omni present plastic sheets which makes sure nothing gets dirty .

We Indians are very particular when it comes to hygiene and cleanliness , we just cannot stand any dirt be it on the roads or in the car .

Before one can even fire the engines its important to make sure that the Gods have been given their rightful place and see how pretty do they look sitting/hanging (which ever way you feel more religious) .

For the long life of the car you must pay a visit to the temple of your choice , since its important that the owner and the owned both keep fit .

The Car , the Plastic and the Gods are here to stay , aren't they ?

Fasten your seat belt and drive safely !

“Types “ After Marriage !!

I just couldn't stop writing on this topic . Each time I see one of my friends getting married I feel that this could be the very last time I might be meeting him .

1) The Majority “type” :

Life for these stop post marriage , they stop dreaming , seclude themselves from the World and go into an oblivion from where even God hates to pull them back.

You send an email – (and if you are an emotional type you might not want to read further ) - you will obviously not get a reply .

Try calling them up and ask them “How are you doing “ , pat comes the reply “Very Good” . Nothing wrong in it , I am not jealous :)

The goal (goals) for this “type” is to save money , rear kids , send kids to the best schools in town , dab ones spouse with gold and buy a car and drive it on weekends to the nearest Paani-Puri shop . After all the car needs attention too.

2) The not so famous “type” :

The numbers for this type is increasing at a rapid pace . Both the partners work , they hug each other before leaving to office and then meetup again in the night for things which might surprise you . Food , think no more !!

Money comes hard , one needs to work and by the time one discovers that he/she has enough the hair on ones head are either all grey or may be no more .

Did you say kids ? Who has the time you fool .

3) The special “type” :

These enjoy life to the fullest , they earn less and spend more and are found mostly on a hill top or by the sea shore .

They change cars each year and eat a kings dinner every night .

This “type” is extinct . Heard about Do-Do's , a flightless bird which vanished a century ago ?

Some articles do not need an ending , they just end , they are of a different “type” .

The Leftover Agony !

There (somewhere ,probably here) exists a league of people who just cannot resist but try to squeeze out the last drop of the juice from a tetra pack or for that matter the last atoms of the dental cream from a toothpaste tube .

I think I too am part of this club.

If you'r my friend read on and if you belong to an elite group you can still join us with no sense of guilt because after all ... Am I stretching it too far ?

A tetra pack in your hand and a normal 250 ml juice pack contains very little juice . Anybody who does not agree ? On top of that the juice finishes very fast and it leaves the buyer in a state of an incompleteness . If you shake the tetra pack you'll hear a noise from the left over juice inside and the noise gives an intuition that the volume is good if not humongous (after all what the hell you want from a 250 ml pack)

No matter what you do that residual just refuses to come out . I've tried completely turning the pack upside down , squeezing it to an extent where vacuum starts building inside the pack , infact I've tried a number of other torturous things over these juice packs but they simply wont budge.

The juice at times has spilled over my face because of my endeavors but I insist on fighting it out .

If you are alone in your home or any home (the idea is to have a place where you do not have spying eyes of your fellow countrymen) you can try ripping the pack with a knife . This helps – I must tell you .

The problem arises when you are in a place where if you try all this you are looked down upon and then with a deep sense of anguish the only solution is to throw that juice pack with still a good amount of stuff in it.

I've experienced the same frustration while eating an ice-cream and then when its time to discard the ice-cream wrapper you observe quite a bit of the ice-cream sticking and then you try to look around and see if anybody else is also feeling the urge to lick the wrapper and when you fail to find company you annoyingly throw it away . We are living in bad times !!

Am trying to figure out if this is due to a middle class upbringing or bad table manners or just my animal instincts or am I normal when I have this “Leftover Agony” !! ?

This is an article without a heading . And why should it have one ?

It's an article without a theme , without a direction , its fuzzy and it reflects the mood of today's World. You might not agree and thats perfectly fine.

Saddam is hanged , some rejoice , some cry , some are amused as to why the others are over reacting , some take to the streets , some pelt stones on a tourist bus (all the passengers happen to be Indians) – in the name of Saddam. While all this was going we hear Bush Junior expressing his opinion that he would have liked Saddam's execution to be more dramatic.

For an average Indian it really does not matter what the Iraqis think about Bush and vice-versa . We have so many things to worry about ourselves.

Nithari village in Noida is making news. The latest on this front is that the butchers have disclosed that they enjoyed eating human flesh – as gory as it can get .

Vegetables , fruits , animal , fishes and now humans – I guess there is nothing else left . We have few options !!

While the Indian Politicians were trying hard to draw first blood on this the clock struck 12 and it was New Year and guess what the the first headlines read : Couple molested in Mumbai at the famous Gateway of India . The hooligans took away the girls skirt as a memento . Quite auspicious !!

The Mumbai police says it has arrested some rowdies but is waiting for the couple to lodge a complaint . So we do have times when the police has to wait too. If you want to know more then you are looking at the wrong place .

The ULFA( United Liberation Front of Assam) has shot down 48 daily wage laborers (all from Bihar)and the Assam State Government has requested the ULFA to restrain from killing . Now thats a news indeed .

Dogs have been on a killing spree as well. In Bangalore some rowdy dogs attacked a small girl and she succumbed to injuries before she could be taken to a hospital. Some enlightened Politicians have suggested to start eating the dogs – this would help culling the population and we have some rich source of protein as well on the menu !!

Happy New Year !!