The Blog Reloaded

3-D Movies - Pros and Cons

2010-05-22T12:01:00.009+05:30

Now Now People, It's been a while. I Know I'll be Rusty. I know my 'wit' will be not upto par. But one has got to start,, nay,, resume at some point irrespective of pursuit of perfection. So here we go...

The emerging, or as some say, the established trend of 3-D movies is for most movie lovers to see. Blockbusters like Avatar and not so seamless 3-D rendering of Alice In Wonderland just go to show that the 3-D phenomenon first pioneered and also debunked in the 60s or so has finally matured to a point where the visuals actually intended by the movie maker is projected to the audience rather than blurred out, flushed out frames that are more headache inducing torture rather than enjoyable entertainment.

However, as with any technology, the discerning adopters( read - the CONSUMER) always find out the balanced mix of pros and cons which ultimately can make or break any technology. And therefore, I shall present the comprehensive list every filmmaker should look up and think of(What the hey,, Blogs are BIG) while making his next 3-D Magnum Opus.

PROS

Immersion - There's no doubt that a well made 3-D movie is immersive. Hell, Shrek Forever After looked mighty good, let alone Avatar.
Focused Viewing - I have seen it first hand that 3-D movies tend to make the viewer give undivided attention to the movie, and not to the chitter chatter around them.
Novelty - Watching 9 2-D movies out of 10 and one 3-D movie does tend to give it a feeling of novelty. Even if the movie is sub-par, viewer tends to be absorbed into it.
No Mush - Ok Ok,, no need to scratch your heads. This is solely for those who've had to sit through a movie with a couple in front, or right at your sides being "Cozy" (noisily i might add) and crapping out your movie experience(Easy with the Stares,, you know am right). Why this is so?? I shall explain in due course...

CONS

Unwieldy Eyegear - Well DUH!! Want 3-D?? Need Glasses that look like portable eye testers at your friendly optometrist.. NO,, Thank You!!!
Headaches - Ok, Strictly not a generality, but dang,, sometimes one does feel like the head is being pounded. The Eyegear surely isn't any help either.
Dark Visuals - It seems to be given that 3-D movies will be darker than normal 2-D movies. Whether it's a technical issue, or simply an issue with specific theaters (namely ALL in my case),, I cannot say. The Darker visuals in no way enhance the detail of the movie. Even Avatar is some scenes looked blandly washed out.
No Mush - Right then, This is not a mistake. It DOES very well fall in both the categories. While one doesn't really enjoy loud mush from others, surely one cannot expunge oneself from the temptation of enjoying a cozy moment of 'magic' with one's partner in the dark confines of the theater (FINE.. it sounds hypocritical.. SUE ME!!!). So the CON?? Try enjoying a cozy moment when your eyegear keeps getting in the way. Not to mention looking into the eyes of the other is an impossibility. By the time one take the trouble of tearing them off,, the 'moment' is almost surely..... GONE!!

There Ladies and Gentlemen, is a short but precise take on the 3-D movie experience. While the listed attributes are movie-title agnostic, it is my personal view that animated movies lend themselves to 3-D much better than live-action ones (No Offence Avatar, but Shrek 4 was more immersive in my view). Before the Avatar aficionados start a flame war, lemme rephrase by saying that CG heavy visuals lend themselves better to 3-D than live-action.

And Finally, while 3-D is undoubtedly making strides,, personally i'll take good old 2-D anyday. If for no reason than simply to rid myself of the loathsome eyegear. But what the hey, maybe glass-less 3-D will be a reality someday.

We Shall See...

Portable Apps – Making sense on Desktop

2009-04-03T21:46:00.002+05:30

Note :- This blog entry covers only Windows based PCs. Mostly for 32-bit Windows PCs, with 64-bit (where notified)

“My PC has gone so sloooowwww!!”,

“I’m getting too many errors!!”,

“What does this BLOATware do??”

We’ve heard these rants from PC users all too many times to even count. You buy a Fresh-Off-The-Rack PC or Notebook, load up your Operating System, and it’s all Zippy and Fast and Clean and you’re all happy getting hands on with your new tech baby. BUT as they say – GOOD TIMES DON’T LAST FOREVER. As you keep using it, you find it getting slower and slower over time and throwing up niggling errors, freezes and system crashes now and then just to frustrate us ‘gentle’ and ‘calm’ users into a state of plentiful stress and sometimes, sheer fury.

The Low Down

Before we tackle the issue head on and provide (hopefully) a lasting solution to the problem, we must analyze where the problem arises and why. The primary culprit in this phenomenon of “ever slowing” PC experience is ‘the storehouse of information’ in the Underbelly of Windows – The REGISTRY!

As software gets installed and uninstalled over time, the registry size increases and it gets cluttered with obsolete and orphaned entries with keys pointing to nowhere and all that nastiness. Not only does this exact a increasing memory cost to load that registry, it also causes application crashes and BSODs.

The Solution

Of course the simplest solution is, don’t install anything new. But then again, that’s impossible to actually undertake. No Operating System comes with all the tools one needs and even if they did, users typically install their own favourite ones over the bundled ones. Therefore we look at 2 different ways to have a lean and clean PC and avoid these registry problems to the maximum extent possible.

Solution A – Use 3rd party uninstallers and registry cleaners to get rid of all traces of an uninstalled program. This is a favoured solution of power users. There are several good Freeware uninstallers which do an amazingly good job at this.
- Revo Uninstaller – Has a Advanced remove option which removes an application using built in uninstaller, and then scans for leftover files, folders and registry entries and shows them to the user for manual removal.
- Eusing Free Registry Cleaner – Does an amazing job of cleaning obsolete registry entries. Another notable mention is Wise Registry Cleaner and Regseeker(for advanced users only).
Solution B – Use Portable Apps. Portable apps are applications which are optimized to be self-contained and run from USB pen drives without requiring any installation. While the premise of portable apps is just that – Portability, one can make a case of using portable apps on the desktop with similar ease with the single most beneficial attribute – NO REGISTRY ENTRIES!

What all applications can best be used as a portable app?? Practically anything!! Though for daily usage for most of us who’re not power users, i’ll shortlist a few which have none or minimal changes in usage whether it’s a installed or a portable version.(All softwares named are available as portable AND install versions. Choose carefully from the software website before downloading)

CD/DVD Writing App : My personal favourite is Infrarecorder. Available as both 32 and 64-bit executable.
PDF Viewer : FoxitReader. Light, fast, small download and overall, LOADS better than the Adobe Bloatware.
Download Manager : WinWGet. Does everything that heavy download managers can do including scheduled downloads
Zip Manager: 7-zip. Handles all archiving formats including RAR, GZ, ZIP and more.
Media Player – VLC Player and Winamp Portable. VLC Handles DivX/Xvid Video files without need of Codec Packs to be installed.
Browsers: Portable browsers allows one to test run a new browser without the hassles of installing. Portable Chrome, portable Firefox, portable Opera are all available, along with instructions on the web to create your own portable version.
System Cleaner – CCleaner. Cleans out temporary files, internet caches, cookies and even registry entries.
Remote Desktop – AMMYY Admin. Connect to any PC in a few clicks.

PROS

No Installation required. Simply Unzip and Use.
No registry entries after installation or orphaned entries after uninstallation.
Don’t Want the app?? Simply Delete the folder.
Small install base
No chance of required files being scattered all over the Windows partition and System folder.

CONS

No Accessibility from Start Menu : Users have to create manual shortcuts for the apps.
No preset File-handling: Apps like 7-zip, VLC Portable and so on have to be manually connected to the file types the user wants them to handle. One time issue though.
Slower(?) WinXP and Vista/Win7 have superfetch with loads software into memory for quick loading. It is not known whether portable apps can be superfetched. Therefore loading time of Portable apps can be slower than installed apps.

While there are also portable Antivirus softwares and anti-spyware, such system critical apps are best installed on the host system and updated regularly.

Where Can I Get Them??

Portableapps.com : Most popular portable apps site. Site offers categorized lists of softwares which can be used standalone, or inside the portableapps.com launcher and suite software.
Pendriveapps.com : One of the largest listings of portable apps. Also has instructions on how to make your favourite app into a portable one.
Wininizio Pensuite : Preset suites of portable apps inside executable launchers.
Lupo Pensuite : 3 Suite options of Full, Lite and Zero.

Portable apps along with regular housekeeping such as ChkDisk/Scandisk, Disk Defragmenting and power tweaking can help keep the system fast, clean and Happy(user too) for a long long time. If one is REALLY BRAVE, one could do a fresh install of the OS, and install Portable Apps for all functionalities that are covered by apps available, and then use regular install versions of apps whose usage is not taken care of by portable apps.

Update:- The idea of a Fresh Install is appealing,, especially for those whose systems are FUBAR with months and years of neglect and loose installs and uninstalls. But this option comes with a HUGE drawback,, especially for users saddled with low internet speeds. That drawback is the need to install all the security fixes and service packs from Microsoft for your OS. Therefore i would suggest you use this option only as a last resort, and also keep the latest service pack offline installer handy for quick updates with all the latest patches without the need for time-consuming internet linkups. Power users can use Nlite of Vlite and slipstream the service packs into a customized installer.

The Bane shall become the Saviour

2007-12-10T15:27:00.000+05:30

History and traditional wisdom teaches us that any idea, any action, any tool, any technology is almost always what is called "a double edged sword". Any idea which can be used for personal gain, can also be used by others on us for personal loss. Any science used for betterment of lives, can be equally used to take away lives. And one field of science more than any idea that has shaped and destroyed nations, lives and civilization over time is - Economics.

Economics and the pursuit of economic progress and prosperity have since the days of yore, made man fight with each other, ally with each other, device ways of progressing self faster and stopping others from progressing as well. But as with any mass applied science, economics has had many unpredictable side-effects on society. And in this blog, we shall delve into one of those side-effects that in today's world , in the first place, should not exist in it's entirety in the macro sense, and in the second place, should exist in a totally opposite way in the micro sense.

That side effect is - Dowry

Dowry is a practice whereby the family of the bride pays out several gifts to the family of the groom. In more passive terms, it is the property brought by the bride to the husband's family and house. In India, this practice has been prevalent since the days of kings (and maybe even earlier) spanning to the modern age. While in theory dowry is completely voluntary, in practice however, it is a much darker phenomenon. Irrespective of how dowry might have started off as or why, today dowry is pretty much a mandatory burden on the part of the family bearing and upbringing a girl child. It is majorly for this sole reason that female foeticide is such a sad yet true reality. Families in rural villages and even urban India abort a female child prematurely or have it killed at birth just to save on the crushing economic burden that the female child can potentially put on their heads. This perceived, and in many cases a very real, economic burden coupled with the globally adapted (though, personally speaking, an outdated view strictly from a social sense) mindset that the male child is necessary for the progression of the family bloodline and tree whereas the lineage breaks with the girl child since she's married off into another family, tends to put the girl child at peril even before the child gets to see the light of day outside her mother's womb.

This brings us to my first point which i elaborated upon in the second para - The Macro Picture. While in an "ideal" civilized society, this social evil should not exist, it is but also a reality that no society is ideal and thereby this evil has to be tackled on the ground rather than just blind ourselves to the reality and hoping it'll vanish over time. Dowry has resulted in a skewed sex ratio where males in a society far outnumber females. This may or may not be a global ratio,,but it certainly is in traditionally patriarchal societies like India and China. There are reports that in many villages in the north-Indian state of Haryana, there exists not a single marriageable female but instead has a smorgasbordial glut of marriageable men who have no choice but to either seek out females from other states or suppress their biological urges till the suppression is no longer required (read " Seeds becoming rotten in old age and 'transportation pipeline' no longer functioning"). Now of course the consequences of female foeticide which has all but wiped out a majority generation of females cannot be undone in a few days, weeks, months or years. A generational gap,,by very logic,,requires a generational leap to repair the fallouts of past mistakes. So for this skewed sex ratio to correct itself in the future, we need to start talking concrete steps now. Those concrete steps are to be a minimum 2-pronged strategically devised action where on one hand the masses are educated on the disastrous biological fallout of such an arcane and barbaric practice and on the other hand, this mutated economic burden factor has to be mitigated at first and nullified later so that female foeticide reduces if not completely vanishes. While the education of the masses will take several decades, the economic angle of it can be applied even now.

This brings us to my second point which i elaborated in my second para - The Micro Picture. The most likely question you, the reader, would ask me at this point is - How do we tackle a social problem from an economic angle?? Simple!! A social issue whose problems are caused by economics, also has it's solution in economics. How is that?? Very simple. Economics as those learned in the field would say is "a self balancing system". We see it all around us. A commodity goes into shortage, it's price goes up. And those seeking to profit from it's high price, supply that commodity which over time bridges the supply-demand gap, and prices come down. Now Now, i'm not crazy nor am i preaching human trafficking. What i am pointing out however is that with just one simple change of mindset and one change of action, this whole problem of dowry will be lessened to a VAST degree. First the mindset, change the line of thinking that girls are an economic burden. By the very sense of economics itself, since marriageable girls are in shortage compared to men due to the skewed sex ratio, girls become all the more premium in social value. Therefore from thinking that girls are a economic liability, the family of the girl should think the girl child is an economic asset. And as any asset whose value has risen, it should infact gain property to the family rather than lose it. Lost me?? In simpler terms,,the father of the girl child rather than give out dowry,,should ASK for dowry from the groom simply because by very numbers,,there are more prospective grooms than prospective brides. The day this idea lights up in the brains of the daughter's father, is the day the first step towards dowry eradication begins. But for this idea to really take root and be successfully propagated en masse, an change in action must take place. That change of action is the unintelligible hurry which the father of the daughter shows in getting her daughter married off in many cases. It's not unusual to hear about daughter's getting married off as soon as they reach legal age of marriage. This has to stop simply because it tends to show the father of the daughter as desperate, and a desperate man is prone to manipulation and psychological and/or sociological blackmail for eg the neighbours and relatives may start murmering about why the daughter is way past her marriage age (in most of india it's around 23-24) and start putting pressure on the father to get her married off. As if the father wilts under pressure,,he's most likely to get her married off to the first guy they find irrespective of what unfair demands he might, and probably will, place on the bride's family.

That, my readers, is my take on the phenomenon of Dowry and my two cents on how to tackle it. As you may have noticed and surmised that i have stripped away all aspects of social and political correctness and only looked at it from sheer logic and the best economic sense that I am currently capable of. Critics might say I have oversimplified the problem and thereby presented an impractical idea of it's solution. But i have learnt from history and personal experience that an idea by it's very nature SHOULD be simple. It is the application of the idea that need or need not be complicated to ensure the best benefit.

If you have any views, comments, suggestions or flames. Put them through

Awesome...Great...Good...Ok....EH WHAT?????

2007-08-21T18:03:00.001+05:30

That's one progressively downer going level of appraisal if i may say so myself,,right readers???

So what is that a chain of? My mood? Social Morals? Any other arcane "old is gold and new is crap" sort of subject that everybody from old retirees having their daily morning/evening "chat ups" to political ideologists and intellectuals who still feel central govt controlling everything is the best form of governance?

It CAN be all that since the heading is fairly generic and open to interpretation and extrapolation. But i'll keep it focused on a fairly light topic.......

FILM MUSIC

I, for one, can honestly, without hesitation, utterly staunch in my views, state that current film music has gone to utter SHIT.Well,, the SHIT part is applicable to 98% of the hindi movie music in anycase even if not the complete 100%. But why am i saying that?? Am i a 80-90 year old who feels listening to songs sung by Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, K L Saigal or composed by S D Burman, R D Burman brings back memories of a time when going to the bathroom to piss wasn't a chore in itself at 1AM at night or that i could actually eat SOLID food rather than slurp spoonfulls of squishy mush coz i don't have teeth?

NO!

Let me make you all look at it with a simple view. Pick up any song from the days of Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi and co and listen to it once.

Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyaar Tera,
O Haseena Zulfon Wali,
Chura Liya hai Tumne,
O Mere Dil Ke Chain,
Mera Joota Hai Japani,
Pyar Hua Ikraar Hua,
Khoya Khoya Chand,
Dil Ka Bhawar Kare Pukar,

(examples given for your ease of picks. You can add any of your choice)

After one solitary listening you can probably hum it no end and even sing 40-50% of the song paragraphs. Listen to it twice and i can pretty much guarantee you can sing the whole song with word perfect accuracy. Now that isn't something to be taken trivially. The popularity of a song depends crucially on how fast it sticks in the listener's mind. And in THAT aspect the oldies win hands down. Take the breed of the new "hip" songs that litter the music scene and after 5 minutes of hearing them,,you can't recollect one line. Examples for those are way-yy-yy too many to even start writing about here, so fill in your own whilst reading( Ok. Some examples like CASH). Not only are the songs which are normally intertwined during a movie plot unfolding,,say,, like the hero-heroine catching each other's glances for the first time and holding them, the first kiss, the 'stuck-at-lonely-shack-in-monsoon' have become forgettably ordinary,,but the so called "Item Songs" have killed off whatever sanity was left. Even the ludicrously popular ones like college favourite "Crazy Kiya Re" doesn't hold anyone's imagination to hum or sing it after a couple of months.

Now my current crib about the state of the music scene isn't anything economic in nature. Hold on a sec......It IS economic in nature. I gotta spend precious moolah buying shitty songs and music. Ok...Ok, i download most of my music for free on P2P before venturing out to buy any CDs after a review of songs. But my current crib is that, I, a self annointed listener of "quality" music, has to wad through the drudgery of mindless and pathetically distant-to-the-listener music just because there HARDLY IS ANY OTHER VARIETY AROUND!!!( and the music moguls ponder why P2P has taken off so explosively....yeesh)

Music, any type or genre, in my view must make the listener forget about his ills, his problems, his world around him and immerse the person in the feeling and emotion the music is meant to convey. Classical music does that with perfection. Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi's music can totally absorb you into their fold. I hold a special place for John Williams' music from the Star Wars series of movies coz they have a really good ability to make your mind feel the emotions of the movie even without watching. And why even go that far off?? Even our own national anthem instills a sense of belonging and pride towards our nation(yeah ok,,that's the basic premise of any national anthem, but still). Compare that to the beats heavy film music of today,,and it seems that pharma companies have a secret pact with music composers to have them belt out headache inducing music to boost the sales of over-the-counter painkillers. The "Remix" culture is pretty synonimous with that particular feeling. Somebody should tell DJ Suketu that a remix needs something more than "Bang-Bang-Bang-Bling-Bling-Bling". Take away the actual lyrics,,and i can bet pretty penny that a listener can't make a distinction between any 2 of DJ Suketu's remixes( on a related note, i do like DJ Aqeel's remixes due to the face that he uses original singer's voices in his remixes, especially of Kishore Kumar, and has a variety of styles; and Bally Sagoo who's "Churaliya" is still the ultimate remix in my view).

But there is a clearing at the of the tunnel it seems. The "Underground" music scene is exploding all around the world from college groups belting out some cult classics like "BC Sutta" from the Pakistani group - Zeest, and my personaly favourite, "Gaand Mein Danda" from a group from XLRI Jamshedpur - Bodhi Tree. Now these aren't exactly "for family listening", but they accomplish perfectly what any form of music is meant to accomplish - make the listener FEEL the singer's/composer's emotions and his outlook on his life. The "Asian Underground" movement in the UK pretty much evolved into the "lounge music" scene with names like Talveen Singh and Karunesh. The success of all these names point to one thing from the Point-of-View of the listeners to the media empires - GIVE US GOOD MUSIC and we'll BUY them. Push CRAP on us and you can forget us spending a single cent.

Oh yeah,,before i wrap up. I would like to point out a weird trend going around with respect to music listening especially by the "hip" crowd(read college and under 28 group). Songs like "Gasolina" by Daddy Yankee and "Bebot" by the Black Eyed peas have become somewhat akin to trendsetters when it comes to "oooh yeah,,that's cooooool man" type of songs. Funny thing is,,,i haven't met one,,,,ONE listener around me who even understands a SINGLE word in any of these songs. One is in latino while the other is Filipino. Now why would a "Hindi" nation bred up on "American English" listen to these kinda songs and actually RAVE about them???? Hmm,,,,,beats me. Well,,no matter,,you wanna rave,,then rave. It's a free country. But don't try to show it off as being "COOOOOL" to the other person and ping someone who actually listens to "GOOD MUSIC" as a dead-heap old-timer.

Hey,,who knows. Maybe if the "Bebot" crowd are exposed to Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Classical Instrumental or even good quality Asian Underground, they might even learn to like "MUSIC". But i surely ain't getting my hopes up.

P.S:- Was also gonna write about Tamil music since i'm a avid listener to old movie songs of Sivaji films and stuff,,but couldn't get the names of singers and composers in my mind. But no matter,,the picture there isn't too different too.Also i have a similar article on movies coming up. But till then Happy Reading and Happy Listening to "Good Music" ;)

Facelifts Galore

2007-08-16T22:24:00.001+05:30

Greetings readers,

I've updated the layout of my blog to include a integrated search box with 3 preset domains which i feel will be useful for the readers. They are :-

Moneycontrol - Moneycontrol is a financial portal of the CNBC-TV18 group and can be used to get equity market news, tips, boarder messages and quotes of Indian Exchange stocks from the NSE and BSE.

Engadget - Engadget needs no introduction in the techie and consumer electronic savvy crowd. For newbies, the site features reviews of consumer electronics like mobiles, PDAs, consoles, Mp3 players and so forth. So if you need a rundown of the pros and cons before buying a product, simply run through the reviews here.

The Pirate Bay - THE No. 1 Bittorrent tracker site. Anything file you need to download, you'll get the tracker here. I recommend utorrent for you torrent downloading needs. Advanced users can opt for the Azureus client.

I also have a Google Pack button on the right in the links menu should you want to download Google Apps like Google Earth, Reader, Picasa and so forth. There's a BlogRovr button which allows you to go to the blogrovr site and download the Firefox extension (Also available for Internet Explorer) allowing you to read your favourite blogs in a nifty pop-up on any page you are and also subscribe to them for updates. One of the most useful additions being the Answers.com Answerboxes which allow you to just double click on any word to get a short windowed dictionary. Last but not least, the custom links which have a variety of useful sites bookmarked. Notables include Yourminis and Investorwords.

If you feel the links here are not what most of you are looking for or you want more to ease your browsing,,suggest the links and i'll put them up. If any functionality you desire needs to be added,,send in the suggestions on that too.

Happy Reading!!!!!!!!!!!

Mobile Illiteracy & Miserliness- The DARK Truth

2007-08-05T21:16:00.001+05:30

Let's face it,,,irrespective of the fact that mobiles have gone from the realm of strictly "rich" to a level where even a rickshaw-walla has one to chatter away,,they're still the uber style and "status" icon on a 'portable' level. Mobile manufacturers churn out new models with glitzier styling, more features, better battery, larger screens and so on and so forth at such a rate that a state-of-the-art mobile today is OBSOLETE within 6 months from the "bleeding edge" Point Of View. And while witnessing replacements on a yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or even bi-monthly timescales; it seems hard to imagine that just half to three quarters of a decade ago,,mobiles were still considered a nouveau-rich accessory which users kept till the mobile died of "Old Age".

But it's not a bad thing at all. For the price of a "hand-held brick" that could do nothing but make phone calls and send messages with a battery life of hardly 5-6 hours,,today one can have a virtual handheld computer which is a camera, media player, storage medium and your personal secretary (albeit without the 'curves' ;) ) all rolled into one. Oh yeah,,they still make phone calls and send messages. (WWWooooWWW)

India today has the fastest growing mobile population in the world in percentage terms and ranks 2nd in absolute terms. Mobile telephony operators mint money,,LITERALLY,,by catering to the ever increasing horde of users. More and more services like banking and ticket booking are being offered from the comfort of the mobile phone. Everything seems a shining pot of gold for users and operators alike.

But all this glitz,,,all this replacements to be "up-to-date" in style and features,,,all this new fangled feature terminology and the ever present tendency of young and old to want to carry the latest 'HOT' product on the market hides a disappointing truth - Mobile users are ILLITERATE and amazingly MISERLY even if they flaunt the latest Nokia N95, Sony Ericsson P1i, XDA 02 or the latest incarnation of the ultra-popular Motorola RAZR.

Illiterate you ask??? MISERLY you ask??? Surely i jest,,right????

WRONG

Take a good long look at the mobile usage details of most of the population, if i may put a top of my mind number to it, 95% of mobile users in India haven't moved on from the basic "call and message" way of using their mobile phones irrespective of whether their mobile is a economy level plain-jane Nokia or a top-of-the-line Symbian or Windows Mobile Smartphone like the XDA O2 or the E90. Now why is that? Surely a person buying a phone with everything but the kitchen sink built into it would use most of the features inbuilt,,right??? WRONG again!!!! A study from BBC and WIRED Magazine showed that 90% of all mobile phone features are never used by the user. Why is that?? The easiest answer would be,,that the features are hard to grasp. After all,,if you go to a person with a mobile and say " Setup the net usage using GPRS or EDGE with sounds and images set to 'OFF' to save BANDWIDTH and speed up RENDERING", the majority chances are the least the person would do is give you blank stares as if you've asked a ascetic monk about the technicalities of the Kama Sutra,, or worse,, wallop you right in the eye for denting the "i'm a mobile user,,so i'm mod" image of himself/herself. Bottom line, the user has no idea how to go about it. Setup Email - No idea, setup PC drivers for USB transfers - No idea. Enable/Disable features on phone - Maybe not "No Idea",,but barring tech-o-philes or really savvy users,,most will crap out coz they feel they'll "Brick" their phones( Techspeak for making the phone inoperative)

Let's for one moment take a summarical view of what the most usage styles of users who have mid-range phones and top end phones are. MP3 listening and transfers are right on top of usage time. So is transfer of video clips and pictures using Infrared or Bluetooth. Listening to FM. Now you ask me, all these things are a sign of tech savviness, is it not? Well,, one one level it is. But then again,,take a good long look at the things listed above. MP3 , pictures and video transfers using Bluetooth, FM listening - All FREE!!!! It doesn't cost a CENT. Now just tell that person so generous in transferring the media to send it to you via GPRS to your email,,and i can bet pretty penny,,that person is gonna BALK. Why? Coz it costs MONNEEYY!!! So,,the most features one uses on the phone,,are ones which can be used for FREE. That's a telling example of why usage of the internet over mobiles hasn't taken off till date in India though every phone from Rs 4000 onwards having WAP or GPRS are well capable of it. The Illiteracy about telephony features is so rampant that, with an example to clarify, people don't even know that most mobile operators offer basic internet packages on their networks FOR FREE. (Airtel Live is FREE,,for those of you who didn't know till now whilst browing other pages costs a measly 15 paise per 10KB translating to Rs 15 per MB of usage. Expensive compared to fixed line packages,,but you can't beat the portability ease and anywhere internet lookup for sure). Taking pictures is a big thumbs-up for mobile junkies. Camera Mobiles are really mana from heaven for the young who want to capture certain 'Cherished' moments with family and friends( Now Now,,keep your thoughts clean,,i know about the seedy side of this usage). But to see guys and gals going ga-ga over more and more Megapixels on their phone cam is a avenue of amusement in itself for a musing techie. While a 5MP camera on the N95 sounds amazing,, it's also pretty.......USELESS! Why? Simply because no home PC monitor can show 5MP in it's full size state. So the picture has to be zoomed out to be viewed. So if one is zooming out to see a smaller picture,,why have the need for massive sized photos of 2MP and beyond in the first place? The Sweet Spot for mobile cam phones is 2MP giving you 1600x1200 sized shots. Anything more seems overkill especially since mobile cameras use CMOS sensors rather than good quality CCD sensors that standalone cameras use. The quality difference is so world's apart no serious photo-junkie worth his salt would be caught dead using Camera Phones to capture minute detail professional level shots,,no matter how good camera phones are. Though as a side note for buyers, i must say,,Sony Ericsson has the best camera quality in phones. Their 2MP phones like the K750i can run circles around a Nokia Nseries in camera quality while the higher rez 3.2MP K800i and beyond are a class apart and give a good alternative to budged standalone digicams for casual users.

So,,,after all the hoopla,,,one sees that either users are completely clueless about how to use most of the advanced features of their phones, or are too cheap to pay for using most of the features that their phones offer even if they ARE tech savvy to use the features. So this brings up one question. IF,,in majority of the cases,,if all one has to use is the calling and messaging feature and occasional MP3 listening,,what's the point of changing for newer and newer phones every 6 months????? Why would one want to chuck, say a Nokia 6680 for a Nseries whilst in the end using the same things in both phones and nothing more? Why would one want to blow a month's salary on a high-end phone like a XDA 02 or Sony Ericsson P1i or Nokia E90 when you're gonna do the same things that you did with a 8000 bucks mid-range?? But beyond all that,,,,,,,,,,,,Why spend such high amounts of money,,,,when most users are not even generous enough to actually CALL and instead save that precious rupee by giving MISSED CALLS and wait for the other person to call back???? Why flaunt your mobile's EDGE, 3G, Java, Blah-Blah, Bling-Bling if you don't even know how the hell to use them? How many of use see anyone using their mobiles to book tickets over the mobile internet,,or pay their bills,, or do mobile banking??

Barring the top 5% of users comprising of businessmen who really use the services like mobile banking or checking their email and so forth and the techies (i'm a proud member of the techie world if i may boast) who actually have the skills to use their mobiles to the hilt of what it offers,,the rest are just shams and posers for whom the most knowledge about phones which they are aware of is the MAKE AND MODEL of their phones. Mobile Internet????? Duh!!!!!

That concludes the insights on the "hip, modern and technologically astute" world of Indian mobile users.

Which part of the world do YOU come in????Put in your views.....

Author's Note - Has a MotoRIZR Z3, tweaked for extra speed, additional software for Fax and setup for mobile internet using EDGE where available or GPRS as backup. Hates the Java based OS for it's speed,,but loves it for the ample software for it available on the net.

LOVE..........It is Truly MAGNIFICENT!!!

2007-07-17T18:16:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer - Historical timelines, quotes and actions are accurate to the best of my knowledge.
If there's any mistake,,kindly correct me. Blog contains Cuss words. So if queasy,,kindly stop reading right now

Amour! Amor! Liebe! Pyaar! Ishq! Kaadhal! Many names,many languages; one feeling.......LOVE.

I love LOVE ! (no pun intended)

Love's one of the most beautiful feelings a person can experience and cherish(and it IS to be cherished. One who doesn't cherish love is a Fool to the absolute unadulterated level of "BRAIN DEAD IDIOCY"). You feel lively, you feel perky, you feel BLISS and the whole world seems like a bed,,or a road,, of roses with nary a thorn. It makes you feel like Samson,,while you look like Beetle Bailey. It make you act like Bill Gates, while you're closer to Uncle Scrooge. It makes you talk like Dilton Doiley,,while you're closer to Moose Mason (refer Archie Comics for Dilton and Moose). Bottom line,, love makes you want to be/do/try to do things that you never really thought you would be in daily humdrum life. All in a day's work to try and ingratiate yourself in your beloved's eyes more than you already are. Which isn't exactly a bad thing btw. One should always strive to improve oneself,,if love helps,,there's no harm in it.

OR IS THERE????????????

There are many famous love stories in contemporary and classic literature, like Romeo-Juliet, Heer-Ranjha, Salim-Anarkali, Samson-Delilah and so forth, we'll find tales of loss, grief, betrayal, sacrifice and above all..DEATH. It's kinda strange you know,,,that most famous love stories all seem to end with...DEATH! I mean c'mon ,,,Love is not THAT bad (young couples and jilted lovers using New Delhi's Janak Puri District Centre towers complex as impromptu jumpoff points need not apply). But what's common alongwith the death's of the main protagonists in the story is that the life and death's of these main players doesn't really affect the lives of the other "side characters" a lot barring the sense of loss and grief immediately following the loss of the loved ones. But there is a love story,,,which while running it's course,,seemingly has alterned a standing of 3 nations from inception to modernity(atleast the inception of 1 nation anyway).

What love story is this???? Not a very widely documented,,but certainly largely rumoured,,and seemingly substantiated into certainty very recently. The love and times of - Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister and Lady Edwina Mountbatten, Lord Mountbatten's - the last Viceroy of India, Wife.

Now,,Jawaharlal Nehru or 'Pandit' Nehru as he's affectionately called has a rather mixed image in India. While some see him as a pioneer of India's supposedly "peaceful and prosperous" NAM (Non-Aligned Movement)ideology and "Democratic Socialism", others see him as an outright failure as a politician who caused more damage to India in modern history than the British ever did. How exactly can a Love Affair cause so much trouble?? Let's find out.

Before we delve into the specifics of the love story, let's take a look at Nehru himself. Nehru was a idealist,,no doubt about that. He believed that good intentions and happy cheery feelings were all that were needed to run international and local politics. His "Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai" outlook is well documented and his aversion towards a state military outfit is also documented in his statement after India's independence "Disband the Army, the Police is enough to look after the Indian state" (Was he NAIVE or WHAT???). It was a good thing the Army wasn't disbanded since our "dear neighbours" Pakistan launched a attack on Kashmir in 1947 to grab that state from India. The Indian Army's counter-offensive resulted in pushing them back before Nehru went to the UN and a UN brokered cease-fire came into effect (thereby creating the today known LOC or Line of Control). Now,,on the surface Nehru's move seems like a good move right??? After all fighting ceased and clear demarcation came in. WRONG!!!! It was a FUCKING DISASTER. The Indian Army pretty much was able bodied to fight Pakistan all the way back to the then demarcated "International Border" after the partition,,but Nehru's run to the UN put and end to that AND ended up in India losing 1/3rd of Kashmir which it still hasn't recovered till date. Now you ask,,what does this have to do with his love affair? Ah,,but it has EVERYTHING to do with his love affair.

According to Viceroy Mountbatten's daughter, Lady Pamela Hicks, it was Mountbatten's wife, at the secret behest of the Viceroy himself, who told Nehru to go the UN to broker a cease-fire. Taking an excerpt from Lady Hicks' interview with Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN.

'Lord Mountbatten "used" his wife Edwina, who shared a "deep emotional love" with Jawaharlal Nehru, to influence India's first Prime Minister to refer the Kashmir issue to the United Nations, according to the last Viceroy's daughter.

"That is true and he did use her like that. But he certainly wasn't going to throw her, he didn't say to her go become the Prime Minister's lover because I need you to intercede. It was a by-product of this deep affection," Lady Pamela Hicks said in an interview to Karan Thapar in his programme 'Devil's Advocate' to be aired on CNN-IBN.'

Full article HERE - http://content.msn.co.in/News/National/NationalPTI_170707_1538.htm

Now come on people,,how fair is THAT? Indians lose part of their hard-fought, blood-spilt, newly liberated from 200 years of bondage, land just coz Nehru had the HOTS for a GAL?????? Way to Go 'Panditji'. Talk about thinking with your BALLS rather than your BRAINS. His missteps in the 1962 war is also worthy of "degenerative praise",,especially since it made Indians who felt equal to Chinese in image and self-belief as the leaders in Asia,,fall to a image of self-defeatism and utter inconfidence out of which we're only NOW just emerging,,but don't think LOVE was a factor in THAT,,unless proved otherwise in the future.

But is Nehru alone??? Is he to be blamed outrightly for this gaffe,,which apart from the scale of damage caused to India,,is but a part and parcel of many guys' lives in Love? I mean we do generally see guys and gals acting way out of their usual character when they're in love. I, while now looking at it from a outside perspective may talk like a impervious giant, too felt these changes in myself where i acted unconsciously, or consciously, to change ourselves to become more and more suited to "her desired image" of me. Whilst one does want to impress his/her beloved,,how far should one go before the feeling of complete self-personality detachment(for oneself and by others) start setting in?? I myself underwent changes like giving up eating non-veg, shaping my wardrobe likes/dislikes and even the friends i had all in order to adapt myself more to her image of me. Now i certainly am not saying ALL that is bad,,,but surely,,some of these things are way extreme and i was a fool to have overlooked, undermined or potentially hurt others around me,,if i did. If you change how you look, dress, act, eat, drink, behave and even mingle with a particular friend circle to attune yourself to your beloved,,shouldn't we really ask ourselves for one moment, If he/she wants all these changes in me to make me "perfect",,What the FUCK did he/she see in me to fall in love with me for in the first place??? Sounds strange?? It IS strange. How is it,,that after falling in love,,looking at each other all doe eyed and misty thinking we're perfect for each other,,we start putting up conditions to change the person into something he just was NOT when you fell in love in the first place????

Now,,I'm not any "LOVE GURU", not any "Spiritual Swami",,nor am i any "Psychology Prodigy". But what i am is a keen observer and a bloody critical thinker( THAT should explain my blatant cynicisms of some things). I've seen many cases,,personally and with friends,,that a person in love,,starts ignoring or even disliking his old pals at the subconscious behest of the lady love,,and vice versa. Today you think you're chummy pals with nothing bad between you,,tomorrow you find that guy/gal telling you to piss off just coz "the beloved" wanted so. Seen people lose all focus into what they're doing,,and just sit and talk virtually NOTHING for hours with a silly grin on the face which makes it obviously apparent to the passer-by that he/she is "IN LOVE". Lemme tell you people. These actions seem innocent enough at first glance, but adding up over time,, these lead to a major shit storm not many can survive.

if you've read it this long,,,,you'll be wanting to ask me,,"What do i have against Love??". I don't have anything against Love per se. But what i DO have against,,is the common mistake people make of having grandoise vision of careless bliss when they are in Love. They think nothing can go wrong. They think it's all Cool. They think just coz they're in Love,,they know best about everything and they can teach "worldly and otherworldly lessons" to people around them.

ONE piece of advice to such folk - GET A GRIP!!! Love is part and parcel of one's life. But the secret in succeeding or failing in love is the same as it is with every other facet of life - CONTROL or BE CONTROLLED!!! If you can control your emotions and balance love with other aspects of life,,it'll be truely rewarding. But if you let LOVE lead you around like a dog being led around by the scent of a bone in the ground, you're setting yourself up for a right royal FUCK....a 'FUCK' NOT of the Happy and 'thumping' kind!!!!

Sounds like Politics?????? Love IS POLITICS! The one who gives less and gets more WINS,,and the one who gives more and gets less ends up looking like an ASS in a Horse Derby.

So on that end note of Love and Politics,, i'll wind up by saying - Don't be another NEHRU and let yourself AND those around you get FUCKED!!!!

OR..

In a nutshell - FUCK rather than BE FUCKED

Author's Note - Contrary to popular literary standings,,I, personally, do NOT consider those who die after being jilted in love should be in any way honoured or looked upto. I figure such people to be weak and inherently better off to be DEAD in anonymity from sheer un-deservedness to live rather than spread their "downer" contagion among others. I feel life is too precious to be ended for such a trivial manner as a broken relationship. Not to mention the action itself is highly selfish and by no means or worthy of appraise in classic or contemporary literature and/or mainstream media. Coming to Nehru, i consider him an outright FOOL who worked more to undermine India's borders than any single person in the 20th century. Hindu-Muslim Bhai-Bhai and 1/3rd Kashmir gone. Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai and again part of Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh gone. So you get the point. Nobody screwed India more in modern times than it's own "Bhais".

HEADS UP.....Everyone!!!

2007-07-15T20:16:00.001+05:30

I would like to introduce to all my readers a guest writer who'll also publish in my blog. As you all know,,i give basically an outright GUY's perspective on things. This guest writer will give a GAL's perspective on things. Don't worry,,this won't lead to duplicate entries or gender-fights within the blog (i guess) and in all hope will make the blog a lot more colourful in subject matter. I would ask the readers to extend the same loving views....LOVING views to my guest as you extend to me.

So without further ado,,,,,,i bring to you,,,Sunmeet.

Take it away Sun.....

P.S - Readers can keep tabs on who wrote which entry by looking at the "Posted by xxxxxx" tag at the bottom of each entry.

Mucho Big BLUNDER!!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-08T22:47:00.001+05:30

This post is my take on my last blog post.

I've always prided myself on the fact that i write crisp, i write precise and i write HARD. I use cuss words and make no apologies about it. Bottom line,,, the reader gets to know my POV about what i write in a clear,concise manner. But my last blog entry was,,,well,,how should i put it???

CRAP

What went wrong?? I made the classical mistake any writer worth his salt would DIE before making(well,,even if he does make it without dying, the readers pretty much grill him anyway), writing out of his natural style!! The spacing, para makeup, content and overall style was pretty much 180 deg of my earlier entries. Namely,,i tried to be "diplomatic" in my writing rather than the "Poke a hot skewer up the ASS" way i've written my earlier entries. And it shows. Reading it is no fun,,,it has no "Punch",,,no feeling, no NOTHING. And in the new writing style,,,,i did something i've not done in ANY of my previous entries - I DIDN'T GRILL ANYONE!!!!!!

So,,,

As atonement to my blasphemy, I'm now doing everyone the best thing possible for them and me, moving to my older style,,and going to write a follow up to my "HAPPY NEW YEAR" entry on lines of which i originally intended to write it. Diplomacy be damned!!!

Stay tuned to the next entry. It's coming soon.............well,,,,sooner than the gap between my last Scribbles and HAPPY NEW YEAR entry anyway.

Break out the popcorn for the next entry people,,,,,it's gonna be a WILD RIDE!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR.....in JULY

2007-07-05T19:05:00.001+05:30

Er.... No.

I'm not crazy, haven't woken up from a long coma or just recover from a
time-warping-catastrophic-life-changing event that put me totally out of whack
with what MONTH it is.

I know it's July (atleast when i started writing this blog,,seeing my recent
run of laziness, don't be surprised if this entry got published in October).

The title signifies the first entry of this year. (yeaaaaa....POP THE
BUBBLLYYYYYYYY)

And if you've read this far and not gone onto another site sensing this guy is
completely looney,,, allow me to enlighten you with what this entry is really
about.

But let me begin with a question...or rather questions.Why is it that one person succeeds,,yet another fails?? Why does one community move ahead,,while another falters?? Why does Jealousy arise in friendship?? Why do relationships break??

Complex questions???? Searching for equally complex answers????

What if i told you,,,that the answers to each of the quetsions posed is EXACTLY
the same,,,and is but a SINGLE WORD????Puzzled??? No matter!!! Take a while,,,sip some caffeine to get your grey matter working,,,fire up GOOGLE and do what you want to to try to find the
answer.....

Still Searching??????

Still............???????????

Ok Ok,,,,,lemme end your torture and tell you the answer myself.

!!!!!!!!!FEAR!!!!!!!!!

Yup, FEAR is the sole underlying most BASIC reason for all the ills questioned
above. Now before i explain,, I love fear!!!! I really do. It's the best ally one can
have if one learns to control his own,,and manipulate it in others. Ring a
Bell????? Yeah yeah,,,,same line was said in Batman Begins. But hey,,,you gotta
learn something,,might as well learn it while watching a good movie rather than
dozing over dreary books,,eh????? Anyways,,coming back to the topic,,you might
wanna ask,,why do i love fear??? Simple Reason. Fear makes people predictable,
and in my line of work, predictability based on fear is worth a LOT
of MONEY........

NO, NO,,STOP,,,Don't call the Police!!!!!!! I'm not a gang member making money
via extortion calls!!!!!! I'm an equities trader,,and if you can really figure
out whether other traders are greedy enough to buy more or fearful enough to
start selling,,you can make Tons of money!!

Now then,,,,you waiting for explanation,,or rather,,ENLIGHTENMENT?? Wait no
more. I'll break up the chain of effects of FEAR and put in examples to simply
the "learning" process.

FEAR LEADS TO ANGER

How does that happen???? Eh?????? Any Guesses????? Well,,,,,it's simple....
Consider a situation where you're asked to do something with the caveat that
the action entails risk,,,,but the successful execution of that action carries
reward remunerative of the risk involved. What do you do????? WHAT DO YOU DO???
In most probable likeness of Indian negativism that's so prevalent in pevious
generations,,and in many communities i'm personally aware of first hand,,seemingly
ETERNAL,,,YOU DECLINE!!!!! As in,,,you look at the "risk", overlook
the reward and just clam down. Fair Enough,,,you took a judgement call you
thought best suited to yourself. Now how does THIS lead to ANGER???? Just
clamming down surely is not gonna lead to anger,,now would it? Ah,,,but it
will. Just coz you've declined to undertake the action,,,doesn't mean everyone
else will too. So,,in all probability,,someone steps upto the
plate,,,undertakes the actions,,succeeds,,walks away with praise AND reward and
you sit on the sidelines looking and feeling like......AN ABSOLUTE IDIOT!!
Now,,NOW,, you start getting angry. First at yourself as to how you could
decline such a opportunity just because of some risk,,and later,,,slowly but
surely with repeated incidents,,,jealousy will result in you becoming angry at
the person who eventually accomplished the task and walked away with the reward.
2+2=4 eh?? Fear to Anger doesn't seem too far detached now,,do they???? But it
doesn't end there,,,does it??? Nope...It doesn't end there at all!!!!!! It
becomes more,,,,,much more..............

ANGER LEADS TO HATE

The anger building up could over time just melt away,,especially if you've
buried your fear and taken up opportunities and succeed,,,,but if it
doesn't,,,,then it becomes more virulent,,,more progressively destructive. The
anger leads to HATE... Hate both inwards at yourself,,,which can be remedied
with successes,,and outwards,,which is far more virulent and dangerous,,since
the only way this type of hate is diminished, is when the other person is
brought to some sort of shame or loss. This in turn fuels another cycle of
negativism. Just because we've failed,,,,we start wanting the other person to
fail as well. But we forget that the core reason for our failing is our own
internal fear. After all,,,failing while doing something,,,,,is anyday better
than failing by fearing to do something in the first place and end up not doing
anything at all. Isnt it?? But since when have we really taken a good look on
things and say that "my problems are my own doing"??? History is rife
with examples of one's own failures being projected as someone else's evils. Muslims
of the world anyone?????? Now we're upto hate,,,,,,but it would be foolish to
think hate would just subside on it's own,,,wouldn't it???? Hate requires an
avenue of escape.The avenues are aplenty,,,but the fallout of that hate is by
no means beneficial to anyone,,,including the one expressing that hate in the
first place, BECAUSE...............................

HATE LEADS TO SUFFERING

Suffering for whom you ask????? Suffering for everybody!!! Hate is almost
always focused on destructive actions as a means of escape. Al- Qaeda needs no
introduction. Now does the action undertaken to quench the hate really solve
anything??? No it doesn't. Whilst you'll have quenched one round of hate by
making another suffer by causing destruction to him,,,the reactive action that
person will do you you will cause destruction to you. And the whole cycle of
hate caused suffering starts all over again and feeds on itself and grows.

The examples given are just a part of our lives and the basic principle can be
applied and viewed from a multitude of paradigms and still be found to be true.

It can be applied to a situation where a guy fears to make a move on a
gal,,ends up losing her to another guy,,and hating THAT guy in return. Can be
applied in Office,,though there you have a diplomatic term for it -
PROFESSIONAL RIVALRY. Can be applied in politics. Can be applied in
society-trends as in Punjabis and Gujaratis are more affluent economically coz
they're more open to risky enterprises than Iyers who're generally very risk
averse.

So ultimately we see that a tiny niggle like FEAR can snowball into a
destructive cycle of emotional actions that aren't good for anyone....So as an
end note......

DRINK BEER,,,,,,FUCK
FEAR

Ok Ok,,that wasn't the end note.....Chill Chill. The end note is,,,

Don't let irrational fear bog you down. Fear is useful coz it makes us think
before acting,,but allowing fear to clap us down into IN-action is a mortal
mistake. One who's effects are far-reaching beyond imagination. Remember,,,better
to try and fail,,,rather than not try at all. You might even SUCCEED!!!!

Till the next post......

ADIOS!!!!!!!

P.S:- In case you're wondering from where i got the "Fear leads to Anger,
Anger leads to Hate, Hate leads to Suffering" chain, don't search too
far,,and don't dig into old style religious books. You won't find it in any of
those. It's a teaching by one of the most famous philosophers of the 20th
century.

YODA from STAR WARS ;)

Technorati Tags: Fear,

The END of "Wussy Guy" Syndrome

2006-12-18T11:08:00.001+05:30

It fills my heart with utmost JOY and Celebration to see this dreaded "plague" finally on it's way to come to an END.

What's that??? You haven't heard of any disease ravaging mankind you say?? You're not aware of any such happenings???

No matter,,it's not a disease that ravages all mankind. It only ravages the male-kind. And this disease is called -

METROSEXUALITY

That's right.. This has been the scourge which has ripped through the urban male population like World War II in Europe and left only destruction and confusion.

What is this "Metrosexuality"??

According to answers.com , A metrosexual is defined as a dandyish narcissist in love with not only himself, but also his urban lifestyle; a straight man who is in touch with his feminine side.

That definition by itself is somewhat incomplete in that it does not elaborate on the "eccentricities" of the metro-sexual male who goes about expressing his new found "feminine side".

Let's see now..How metrosexuality is shown in the popular media.

1)A guy who wears pastel shades clothes and apparel,, EVEN PINK. Nothing too out of the normal there. Guys can experiment with offbeat colours as well for party occasions and stuff..But PINK??? Please guys..PINK??? What's next for the new found "feminine side" in you?? Lingerie???

2)A guy who undertakes a skin care regime in order to be more,,,"urban fresh"( newspaper term, i have no idea what it means). Skin care for the metrosexual guy means facials, waxing, pedicure, manicure and the works. Now me being a guy,, i don't really go "neanderthal" with my skin either, especially not in winters. But my "skin care" starts with shaving and stops with applying moisturizer after a bath. Pedicure and Manicure for me is taking a nail clipper and running through my fingers and toes once in 15 days. THAT'S IT!!! Really guys,,where will it stop once we start down this path?? Are we going to see a guy and gal together where their idea of a 'date' is going to the salon together for a skin-care package??? YUCKKKKKK!!!!!

3)A guy who's not very strongly built with bulging muscles and has a rather gaunt frame - Yeesh man. That's all that the world required. Gaunt looking guys who compete with gals and cringe about extra fat on their tushies.

4)A guy who's in touch with his 'femimine side' - I guess that would mean talking like a GAY (ooohh yeah..hahaha..how Naughty...hahaha), CRYING (My Lord!!! Forgive them,,for they know not what they do) and other things i don't have the stomach to write about.

It's funny though. When this "metrosexual" fad started and caught popular media attention, newspapers and youth shows TV were splattered with gals who were saying stuff like "Ooh,,,we like Guys who're in touch with their emotions..Who express them out like we girls do". Now is it only ME who sees the paradox in that statement. "Girls" and "express them out" DO NOT necessarily work in the same sentence. Not when guys know that getting girls to divulge any matter which is bothering them is harder than digging through a cement foundation with a solitary hand shovel. Now gals want the GUYS to do the same??? Thanks,,but no thanks!!!

Now what can we use as basis to state that this fad or trend is coming to an end??? Well,,for one,, media coverage suggesting that the Metrosexual guy is "PASSE" and the RETROsexual guy in "IN". I can't say that media coverage is 100% accurate or ahead of the curve,,but it's a promising sign.. Time guys behaved like GUYS and not GALS (I get enough of BOBBY DARLING on an hour of Bigg Boss thank you very much). Secondly,,everything in fashion and lifestyle is a cyclical phenomena. What's HOT today is COLD tomorrow and HOT again the next week so it's just a matter of time that this "metrosexual" male is gone for good.

AND i can't truly express by words how HAPPY i am for it.

If any of you might be wondering and itching to ask, Why does this bother ME so much if i'm not following the "Metrosexual' way of life anyway. Nothing direct let me assure you, it's just that i couldn't bear to see Guys losing what matters most to a guy - His Tough Guy persona. Ok forget Tough Guy persona,,A GUY persona atleast.

That's a wrap on my take on this uniquely and pathetically disturbing Urban Phenomena which thankfully is on it's way to the sphere of history(for now).

Comments, suggestions, commendations and flames all welcome......

Scribbles of a wandering mind - Part III

2006-12-16T00:10:00.000+05:30

It's been a month plus since i did any blog entry. The time lag was not because i had nothing to write about. But i had too many subjects to write about but couldn't concentrate on any one long enough to pen,,uh,,keyboard my thoughts in.

But,,my 'slumber' is now over,,and i'm back to write down my,,'take' on the things i saw and felt and understand and....you get the gist.

I got many comments, recorded in blog and otherwise, about the laxity in me putting up the "GUY" side of things in the relationship matter that i touched upon, ok, SURGICALLY DISMEMBERED, in my last 2 "Scribbles". Some said that i was afraid of penning the guy side simply coz i would be disclosing some of my OWN faults. But worry not dear readers,, fear and EGO shall not stand in the way of enlightenment of the female masses wanting to learn about the "MALE MIND".

DISCLAIMER - I do VERY STRONGLY believe that the 'Male' way of thinking as inherently simpler, more logical, much less prone to needless emotional swings than the female way of thinking. Call me sexist, call me misogynist or whatever else you want, but i'm the way i am,,and THAT'S FINAL!!!!

Right then,,let me start off with what the female readers want to see first of all - HOW GUYS VIEW GIRLS!!!

WARNING:- Possible strong language, reference to abusive words and parts of female anatomy. If you're uneasy about the subject matter..KINDLY STOP READING!!

GUYS view girls in 4 distinct categories:-

OOOH MAN...She's HOT
Wow...NICE
Hmm....OK
YUCK

Barring those who right now want to KILL me after reading the classification, i'd explain the basis of the categorization. The basis of categorization is - SEX!!!

Why such a blatantly shallow physical view you ask??? Why not look at the "intellectual" standing you ask???

Simple guys and gals, you see 10 gals(or guys - from a girl's POV) on the road at any given time, you're not thinking how 'smart' he/she is in the brain department, you're thinking about how he/she looks. You can't possibly gauge his/her mental prowess just by looking at him/her,,can you???

Now let's get to the classifications in detail

OOOH MAN...She's HOT - Usually reserved for the top 1-5% of the female species in a strange crowd at a public place or your inner and outer friends circle. The "Hotness" meter depending on - Size of "Assets" - Larger and more shapely,higher the marks( 'Larger' applies only to the bust and hip area. TUMMY area better not be LARGE by any measure) ; Flirto meter - How easy it is to chat upto her and whether she's amicable enough quickly to flirt with without having to worry about her walking off or worse......a BLACK EYE and a publicly bruised EGO. Would usually be wearing designer labels with a generous but skillful application of makeup to 'enhance' oneself to be even more appealing. Guys drool, and i mean DROOOOOL, over girls in this category coz they feel they've hit the 'mother load' when it comes to 'high quality Pussy'. To get the attention of such gals, guys will act more macho than usual, either in front of her directly or around their usual other guy friends; seemingly splurge more money than usual; try talking in uber- class accents more akin to a BPO employee's sales pitch than a casual coffee chat. Once a conversation is hit up,,it's not unusual for the guy to then run through phone recharges and bills as if they were toilet paper. Once dating gets underway, it's not unusual for the guy to flaunt her in front of other friends. Primary Goal( and secondary, and tertiary) is to get her into bed..PRONTO. If the guy is successful,,HALLELUJAH (and don't be surprised to see the guy flaunting his phone around to show proof via MMS vid. It's a dirty habit granted,but guys seemingly can't resist{personally i find it an appalling thing to do, but i don't speak for the masses}). If the guy is UN-successful, then i can bet pretty penny that the guy will go around town ruining her name to the nth degree by saying everything from - She's a money-digger. Bekkar hai, saali sirf paisa choosti hai( She's Shit. She just sucks up your money) and so on and so forth.
Wow...NICE - Reserved for the next 5-20% of the crowd. The 'trials and tribulation' to get these gals' adulation and adoration is the same as for the "OOOH MAN...She's HOT" category,,but somewhat to a lesser degree. Usually these will be girls guys tend to focus on if they feel the "OOOH MAN" variety is beyond them,,,or they've been badly hurt when playing for them. So it's like a slightly less risky proposition (in theory anyway).. Unsuccessful endeavors also accompanied by face saving tactics such as demeaning the gal by spreading false stories or negative PR.
Hmm...OK - These would be the 20-60% range. Usually guys wouldn't spend much time, energy and money on this category,,unless they feel they're getting "easy meat". If dumped by this category, guys usually DON'T spread bad PR. Confused??? Don't be. It's simply because they feel that spreading news about being 'rejected' by girls of this category will DAMAGE their public image rather badly as guys would usually think that this category of gals should make do with what they get.
YUCK - Encompassing the remainder of the percentage. Guys usually DO NOT even heed these girls' presence in their universe UNLESS these girls themselves have friends who come in the other 3 categories. So these girls' will be catered to while the guys offhandedly work towards her friends. Are guys SLY or what???

You might notice that barring overviews on the classifications, i haven't gone into absolute details of the gals. That's because i can't generalize,,or should i say, subjectively qualify what qualities would place a girl in either category BEYOND what i've stated. But i have noticed something rather odd,,or should i say PARADOXICAL. Guys in Delhi, majorly Punjabis, do NOT harbour any fancy towards dark skinned girls in general day to day discussions. BUT, that does NOT keep them from drooling over dark skinned actresses like Bipasha Basu, Sameera Reddy, Rani Mukherjee etc. I myself do not know why this is so. I personally find dark skinned girls as beautiful as fair skinned ones. HOWEVER....even more strangely, when it comes to SEX or Sexual Fantasies,,,dark skinned girls score ABOVE fair skinned ones. The logic of such confusing state of affairs escapes me for sure. And as a REMINDER,,do heed my words when i say this - Guys DEFINITELY give more 'weightage' to the 'below neck' area than the 'above neck' one. So you can have a nice,shapely face,,but it's a darn good guarantee that a girl even with a not-so-nice shapely face but a damn good pair of breasts and a shapely arse will catch the guy's attention loads faster than a nice face alone. I'm sure the makers of padded bras got around to this fact far earlier than many of those who USE them.

Right then,,,i guess that takes care of the physical side of things. Let's get to the 'intellectual' side of things.

Guys and Gals are on very different platforms when it comes to the intellectual side of things as one is very well aware of(IF you're NOT,,be aware after reading this). Guys cannot tolerate small-talk after 15 mins,,or if the girl is a fast talker, 5 mins. After that no matter how much the guy smiles at you or nods, you can be sure he's gone someplace else thinking of sports, cars, bikes or simply SEX. So avoid small-talk beyond what it's mainly used for - ICE BREAKING! And Puh-leeeeese, DESIST from talking about clothes, shopping and whatever else BARGAIN deals you had with the guy. Guys are not interested in how good you look in what you're wearing after 5 mins of "Hello"..They're interested in how good you'll look WITHOUT those clothes. And contrary to popular belief,,a gal talking about another gal does NOT interest the guy too much, infact it bores him no end. So do try and keep the conversation on matters mutually relevant to both.

As i pointed out in my last 2 "Scribbles" entries, guys hate,,,HATE it when gals twist,turn, tumble and beat around the bush when touching upon a sensitive topic. If you wanna say something,,,,SAY IT CLEARLY and PRECISELY.. It saves time, it saves energy, and it saves a helluva lotta hair pulling for the guy who sometimes feels like nothing better than to give a right royal forehand across her face to get her to divulge what it is she really wants to say. So please gals,,,do us guys this much favour and drop the needless politics from your speeches and say what you want clear and fast.

After reading this you readers( especially the female readers) might think that guys are unscrupulous, shady, sly, mean creatures who think of only getting the gal into bed and nothing else. Well,,for them i ask just one question.

What else does a guy want with a gal in the most basic scheme of things if not SEX????

The age old debate of "whether a guy and a gal can just be friends" will usually pop up after reading upto this point. Well,, of course they can be "just friends",,i've covered that angle in the "YUCK" point. Of course that is not the ONLY friendship angle out there,,but others are beyond the purview of this blog.

EPILOGUE - Whilst you think of arguing that point via commendations, comments, flames and other degrees of textual communication,,i'll wrap up this edition of Scribbles. DO note that the topic of "relationships" has been CLOSED as of this moment. I've showcased both the guy side and the girl side spanning the 3 editions of the series. NO FURTHER ARTICLES will be dealt with on this topic, unless something specific pops up in the future which has been overlooked in the 3 editions.

Comments welcome......

Request / Suggestion / ORDER

2006-11-13T23:08:00.000+05:30

To all those who place comments to my works......

Please...PLEASE......PL-EEEEE--AAAAA-SSSSS-EEEEEEE

Don't send anonymous comments..Especially when you seek a reply line from me.

Use the "Other" option while posting your comments (In case you have no blogger address of your own,,but have a blog elsewhere)

Or if using the anonymous option,,atleast kindly state your names( yeah ok,, stating your name defeats the purpose of "anonymous", but if you ask any questions in your comments,,atleast give me a "reply to" address where i can answer any questions or queries.).

Thank you..

HAPPY READING!!!!!!!!!

Scribbles of a wandering mind - Part Deux(that's 2 for the uninitiated)

2006-10-30T19:30:00.000+05:30

I wasn't going to write another blog so soon,,ESPECIALLY not a continuation of my "Scribbles" series. But some comments regarding the latter part of my blog (Games with Girls theme) prompted me to write one ASAP.

So here Goes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As i've said, it is the comments to my earlier blog "Scribbles of a wandering mind" that has made me write another edition of that series. I wouldn't really pay that much attention usually to comments, but this time it's different. Not only was my "take" dismissed by a very close friend of mine, but her comments was also backed up by an anon writer (female).

So.......it's a matter of pride,ego and good old MANHOOD that i must uphold my HONOUR and stand up to my ideas in the face of adversity.

Now then,,let's BEGIN.

First of all, i would like to say to both the gals who replied to me with their views - " CLOSE,,,but no CIGAR"

Why?????

SImply coz i had already expected this reply , and other on these lines when i clearly wrote "Lady
readers of this blog would surely say everything from "This guy's
NUTS,this plan of action will never work." to " How MEAN!!Playing
around with girls' feelings" and everything in between," . I have also written the underlying reason behind those replies which is "It's
all a smokescreen to really hide the frustration that'll come up by
seeing that girls' NO LONGER will have the upper hand in initiating
hookups with guys."

But another question popped up in my mind. Why is it that gals want simple straightforward moves from guys when they themselves go about doing anything BUT.

You still with me???

What i mean to say is,,how many of us haven't seen the following "theatrics" by gals when it comes to guys. Here's a point by point breakdown for ease of follow :-

A gal would be sneaking looks at a guy,,but when the guy makes eye contact with a gal, the gal will almost always fastidiously tilt, more like JERK, her neck away from the guy and start looking at everything from the clouds to the stars to Pigeons shitting on top of a wire(well, maybe not THAT). Now it's understandable in most cases that gals don't want unwanted attention and their lack of making eye contact is justified,,BUT,,,when you see eye contact being made multiple times (started by the gal) and you see this "neck craning" happening. It does become amusing and frustrating at the same time. Amusing coz this peek-a-boo is fun,,but frustrating coz after a while we (guys) start thinking, "what the hell man?? Either pass a smile and take this forward,,or cease this childish eye-sneaks and go about your business". Now the gal's logic behind doing such theatrics,,,well,,you figure it out. I've stopped trying.
A movie outing is a case study in theatrics in itself. For one,,Gals NEVER say directly that they wanna see a particular movie. They'll drop hints like "ooh this movie seems cool", "Mere friends keh rahe hain bahuuuuuut achchi hai", "ooooh!! Hrithik/Abhi/Zayed etc etc(replace with your fav hero figure here) is in it". Longer the "oooooh",,more interested is the gal in seeing the movie and more pressing is the hint for the guy to book the tickets. In most cases these hints do work when the movie is one which both the gal and the guy can equally enjoy,,but when a movie comes that's strictly in the catagory of "girly movies" like gooey romance(Titanic,,YUCK. Karan Johar movies......ULTRA YUCK) and the gal wants the guy to take her,,these theatrics come to naught. But then again,,gals being gals,,you won't expect them to straightly say "ok i want to see this movie, would you like to come????"..Oh hell NO....It never happens. Then one fine day the guy would find out that the gal missed the movie and is right royally pissed at the guy for "not getting the hints" or she would have seen it already with her other friends and cousins but would be pissed at the "GUY" that he didn't take her. On the corrollary,, if a guy asks the gal out for a movie which might come in the generally "guy's only" catagory like Sci-Fi, Action, Horror, Comic book flicks, War; and the gal is not interested,,it would be a HELLUVA lot better if the gal just said "NO,,not my kind of movie". But usually,,guys get "Hmm,,tell you later", "Abhi confirm nahin hai" etc etc. Of course the smart ones do make up fast backup plans with their guy pals to see it,,but some nutbags do miss out on great movies coz they're too gullible thinking that their "gal" would really sort out her schedule and give a confirmation to see the film,,,the confirmation sometimes comes when the movie has GONE OUT of the theatres.
Relationship politics is something i've dealt with in my PART I blog on this subject. Here's some more tidbits on the matter. Situation 1:Gal likes guy and guy does not know gal likes guy - As i said in my earlier blog, girls are incredibly COY about positively stating that she likes a guy. And the funny thing is,,the gal would disclose she likes a particular guy to EVERYBODY in her circle,,,EXCEPT the guy in question. The logic behind it might be that the guy would get the buzz from others around him that so and so gal likes him and then the guy would make the "proposal" to the gal which she would gigglingly accept(or if she's a real NUTCRACKER,,will make the guy even more confused with silly refusals). If the twisted newsflow works,,all good in the end. But if it doesn't work and the guy is still aloof,,the gal mostly(speaking from personal experience) starts ranting like "oooh,,he's a idiot. Doesn't understand my feelings at all" and so forth OR,,(this one takes the cake in the cheesy-meter) the gal will start flirting with other guys in front of the principal guy in order to TRY and make him jealous that she's hanging out with other guys and not with him(guys increasingly are doing the same thing,,though speaking from the same side of the fence, i consider an UTTER waste of time,money and energy). Sort of a taunt, lure and trap action used by Wildlife hunters. And what comes of this???? Beats me...Wouldn't it be a better straight forward approach to say "I like you" and then carry it forward if it does??? Saves time,,,saves energy,,,and sure as hell cuts down on the news rounds between friends which might twist the primary issue into a whole new abomination.

So really gals,,,after what all i've pointed out,,are you in ANY position what so ever to say what all that guys do works or doesn't work on gals when in most cases even gals' actions is nothing but a literal case study or catalogue of "HOW NOT TO WASTE TIME" or "HOW TO GET YOUR POINT ACROSS DIRECTLY"!!!!

Readers here(especially female) would point out that i'm overly critical of gals while glossing over potential similar theatrics employed by guys....Don't fret my lady readers. I'm but just stating one side of the issue right now. Rest assured i'll point out the GUY story in future blogs for the reading pleasure of you females.

So then,,,i feel i'm vidicated in my stand on how i look at things and how i react. Am i correct in doing so??? Or am i severly lost???? Give in your comments,,tell me where i'm right or wrong,,tell me where i can fine tune my ideas and actions,,tell me how to make both sides of the fence(guys and gals) cut the needless chess moves when both know what is it they both want.....EACH OTHER!!!

Scribbles of a wandering mind

2006-10-20T15:48:00.000+05:30

I haven't been very active with my blog for last 2 months...

WHY?????

Well,,one would think i had nothing to write about. On the contrary, i had plenty to write about, but somehow couldn't find the time nor the want to write it all down....Writer's block perhaps!!!!!

Now then...Time to remedy that and get on with the flow of words emcompassing everything from the greater universe and everything under it.

I don't have a particular topic to write about in this blog, so i'll just write down my observations and happenings around me for the past 2 months which have been,,,rather interesting to the discerning eye (and MIND).

Let me start with what i'd call " The Curse of FAME " !!!!!!

um,,NO..There's no DEAD person in the subject matter should you think so after reading that line. The subject matter concerns one of my closest friends (name withheld for sake of discretion) who recently had brushes with rather.....unconventional.......sort of admirers. HEHEHE.

The person i'm talking about recently came to orkut and like many others who are unaware of the "pitfalls" of the vast reach and networkability of the Net(and especially SocNet sites like Orkut,MySpace etc),,proceeded to upload pics of oneself in all it's glory (NO NO..nothing lewd or nude). Now nothing wrong in that, after all that's what pics are for...Sharing!!! But the problem arises when apart from reaching out to the core and intended audience with your profile/pics,,,you also garner unwarranted attention... I'm really beating around the bush,,aren't I?? hehe.. Oks,' let me get to the point. Getting attention from the members of the same sex is kinda odd,,,,but getting sexual advances from the same is outright spooky.....unless one is 'unconventional' himself/herself (disclaimer - i'm not very 'liberal' in matters of alternate sexuality,,so if my posts sound harsh or "homophobic",,don't start shouting). Now this person is taking such advances quite cool, hats off on that regard. I would have surely slammed that GAY person if i had such advances thrown at me. How it all pans out for his/her further communiques in orkut remains to be seen...But it sure is fun listening to the tales of such advances from that person and the replies...HEHE.

Moral of the story - Don't advertise yourself too much if you can't handle the attention..lol

Another thing i have noted extensively in the past few months is the issue of female attention towards guys and vice versa. Now you ask,,what the hell has this guy noted so extensively that we don't know about?????

Well.....

I never said i've noted anything NEW,,i'm just saying 'this is what I have noticed'. Chances are you know about this already. So here we go..

Haven't we usually asked the question, "Why doesn't that girl give any attention to me?", or , in a corrollary, if the girl in question turns down your advances, you say to yourself (and to your friends) " Man,,she's too arrogant. What does she think about herself??" (replace with your own quib here). Haven't we??????????

Well,,,,,i seem to have a solution that works PERFECTLY(apart from one TINY drawback,,which we'll come to LATER).

The 'plan of action' is to simply,,,,remain COOL..

Sounds like a real downer after that buildup,doesn't it???

Well,,NO it's NOT. Best way is just be casual friends with that girl until you can really figure out whether you and her can really ever be "an item" together. It's not too hard at all actually. Joke, jest, tease, flirt, call and even go out once or twice but DON'T BECOME ATTACHED....Prod to know her intentions,,but don't act is if a "Yes" or a "No" from her side will really affect you all that much. And if you can play it really cool,,,i can guaran-damn-tee that the girl will make the first move. YOU on the other hand can avoid all the uncomfortable questions like "What IF.......??????". Plus,,with this line of action,,you can actually expand your attention to many girls in and around your vicinity of action. Not only will this give you many more potential targets,,but also improve your social skills with the ladies,,provided your SKILLS are not dead to begin with. Isn't that a much better way to go about things rather than shape-shift yourself to garner the attention/approval of your lady target????? Now of course all i'm suggesting is the basic overall framework of action, how you go about it is unique to everyone. If anybody reading this has a better plan of action,,put it forward. Share it for the betterment of all mankind......ok.......MALE-kind.

Now you might be asking,,what the DRAWBACK of this plan of action is(as i pointed above)?????

The "drawback" is......the "feeling" factor that's making us go about these "plan of action" situations in the first place. You can go about that above said plan with amazing ease with as many members of the opposite sex as you want..But the problem arises when,,,you find someone who can match these steps of yours with effimate ease and can play you back. Now a guy would see that he's been "tagged" at his games and will, and SHOULD, withdraw immediately. But that's not what some guys will do( hell even I didn't do that). I rather than withdraw, infact become more attracted towards the gal who has successfully matched these same steps as i have employed.

Now i myself face a dilemma.....

Do i stop these tactics and profess my outright liking to that gal by circumventing the "PLAN"????

OR....

Keep at it on and on till one of us totally bends in light of sustained "assaults" on each other by each other.

So now you ask,,,," We're back to square one!!!!!!!!! "

HEHE,,i never said this was going to be straightforward,,did i????

Now lady readers of this blog would surely say everything from "This guy's NUTS,this plan of action will never work." to " How MEAN!!Playing around with girls' feelings" and everything in between, but worry not guys..It's all a smokescreen to really hide the frustration that'll come up by seeing that girls' NO LONGER will have the upper hand in initiating hookups with guys. Feels Liberating doesn't it??? Try it...let me know how it works..

I guess that' all for this edition of my scribbles..Will write more later as my keen mind absorbs events from my life in the coming days and weeks..

Till then.......

Ciao!!!!

OMKARA....Pleasure of a great movie and the sadness for the death of intelligent viewership

2006-08-03T12:27:00.000+05:30

How would i rate the movie OMKARA???

Give by my best of the lot rating - GREAT??????
OR
The worst of the lot rating - Unadulterated CRAP?????

For OMKARA though, i'll slightly shift my stands and put up a new rating - ABSOLUTE GENIUS!!!!!!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, i would rate OMKARA as one of the best movies ever to grace our cinemas in a long long time(i'd say better than the overhyped and degeneratively BORING "Black"). The storyline, as advertised is adapted from Shakespeare's Othello; the characters; the setting; the pace all come together for one of the most exhilarating movie experiences worth the admission fee and the massively overpriced bar snacks.

Whilst i'd refrain from divulging the plot of the movie so as not to give out any spoilers and let you enjoy it for yourselves, i would like to point out some sterling aspects.....

First and foremost, the Storyline. Though i have not read Othello, after seeing the movie, one would surely be interested in reading the literary work even if it is to just gauge the level of adaptation undertaken by the director to give it a Indian background and feel.

Two,the chacacters. Special mention should be given to the casting director for picking a stellar cast. Ajay Devgan is a gem for serious roles anyway,but it is Saif Ali Khan who in my view really really steals the show. His character (Langda Tyagi) is a absolute treat to watch. Another noteworthy performance would be that of Konkana Sen as the inimitable neighbour gal, Indu, who's the emotional crutch for Kareena Kapoor's character (Dolly Mishra) throughout the movie. Though the others do not seem to perform as well as the 3 i've pointed out, their roles and characterizations fit the movie as a whole and won't take away from the movie experience.

Thirdly the settings and locale. Adapting a shakespeare drama to a rural UP setting works really really well, seeing as it is that rural UP is a total grey area where personal and professional politics intermingle so much,the lines demarcating them are blurred into oblivion. The natural rustic overtunes of the movie is a farcry(and if i may say a welcome change) from the sweet sweet, cushy, sugar candy settings of Karan Johar movies and a ton of "rich guy-poor gal" or "poor guy-rich gal" settings. Even the songs( by Gulzar) give you a feel of the real UP and even though incomprehensible in lyrics most of the time, really stick in your mind and keep rolling off your tongue when you least expect them to.

So, as a summary,i say take time out in the weekend or a holiday and WATCH THIS MOVIE.

Now................. we come to the negatives part of the whole experience. Any guesses what THAT might be??? Come on,,take a guess...NO..i insist..take a guess...

OK,,i'll save you the painful firing of the brain cells by telling you the greatest crib i had about the whole movie....THE F***ING AUDIENCE. Well,,not the whole audience,,but surely the bunch of females sitting in the row immediately back of mine should have been chucked out after the first half hour of the movie.

Why you ask????

I shall tell you. A movie like this should be treated differently from watching say,,a K3G or a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or any of those slick clothed, uber rich, song and dance sequenced movies, where the hero and heroine are nothing but glorified clotheshorses for major design labels. So how does THAT apply here??? Well,,for one,,i would surely cringe(and i did) when while watching the first half hour of a movie to gauge character growth and background and i suddenly hear "OOH...Kareena is looking so good" or another half hour later "ooh Kareena is not wearing this dress properly" or " Viveik is looking so cuuuuuute". You getting what i'm saying?? How the HELL do females manage to look at a movie like Omkara and take down fashion tips on a PhD level is something beyond me(and i presume beyond the ability of MOST males to apprehend as well). Of course if one has a view about something in a movie,keep it hush hush within your own group, not BLURT it out for 2 rows on either side to hear it. But i guess i should have expected such a behaviour,,after all,, certain females were more interested in Superman's "BULGE" in his trademark red shorts and giggling than watching the movie as a real fan of the genre would. Is it any wonder then that guys usually go as a "male only" group when they really "want to see" the movie rather than "enjoy the company"???

In today(3rd August) TOI, there's a article which is titled "Familes avoid Omkara". Why,,you ask?? It's coz the movie is chock full of cuss words from male and female characters alike. But is that really a big issue?? One can literally write a encyclopedia of cuss words by just listening to people shouting at each other in a half hour traffic jam. So why would such a scene in a movie warrant a viewer blackout?? I don't know???Hypocritical moral high ground??Who cares!!!As far as i saw, most shows of Omkara are running houseful in Delhi, and so it should. Whether it's just college crowd or timepass couples gracing the theaters or families or intelligent viewers is a no-issue taken as a whole. Those who've seen the movie rave about it coz that's what it deserves, those who say the movie is avoidable coz of the cuss words better go into the open world and see how sweet and sugary people's conversations really are.

And so i point out the latter part of my title "death of intelligent viewership". While there's no doubt that the upcoming Karan Johar movie "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna" will run to full houses for a couple weeks atleast with college guys and gals drooling over Abhishek,Preity, Shah Rukh and Rani and how pretty they look in their designer label wares and trendy US settings, the less than serious and "fashion centric" views of people(mostly young males and females) while watching movies like Raincoat, Black and Omkara is truly, TRULY painful to watch. Maybe i'm just being too cynical,then again, maybe NOT.

I guess one would understand what i'm saying here when they go to see such classic works and are bombarded by statements like "oooh,how cute!!!", "how uncouth",," not wearing this properly",,"dress making her look FAT" and so on and so forth. But keeping all this apart,,,my final recommendation....GO AND WATCH OMKARA...

JUST DO IT...............

United Nations - Dead in the water????

2006-07-23T22:14:00.000+05:30

OR should the question be,,,WAS IT EVER EFFECTIVE????

One would be surprised at the question no doubt, but let's dig a bit deeper in the recent history to really gauge whether the UN is/was any good.

Let's start with the Cold War years----

During the 50s and 60s,the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland and put down anti-communist uprisings with brutal armed force. What did the UN do????NOTHING!!!

In 1979,The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and unleashed a brutal 4 years of mass killing.What did the UN do???NOTHING!!!

Post 1991 breakup of USSR, Serbia unleashed a massive campaign of ethnic cleansing of muslims in Bosnia,what did the UN do???? NOTHING!!!

Coming to the latest conflict in Lebanon.Where Hezbollah Militia have virtually setup a parallel govt and are firing rocket into Israel with impunity. And as usual what is the UN doing??? NOTHING!!!

It's little wonder then that the UN is increasingly seen as just a talking space for world leaders with little or no place in the real world. What good is a world body where all that happens is a lot of filibustering with little concrete action??? All that Kofi Annan seems to do is chant "ceasefire" whenver any armed conflict happens around the world.

Seems it is time to disband this sham of a world body and let the world problems be solved in the best way possible there is. Blow each other's asses off with open war and let the world be that of the victor(s).

It is the way of evolution - The Strong survive and the Weak perish.

Return of the Bloggers

2006-07-23T17:31:00.000+05:30

ODD TITLE???

Not quite..

Not only is this the rebirth of MY OWN BLOG..But also the rebirth of the Indian blogging scene that saw a phase of "blocking out" by our far-sighted and wise visioned government.Can't blame the government totally though. They only pointed out individual blogs,,but the ISPs thought it would be much easier to just block out the entire site(Mera Bharat Mahaan...Lazy and cutting corners in every line of work).

BUT.....All that is in the past..Today you'll witness the re-birth of my blog(hopefully it'll NOT fizzle out again due to inactivity..hehe)..

So fasten your seatbelts folks.Expand your horizons with ideas,views and personal takes about everything from international politics, Intra-national politics and politics between boyfriend and girlfriend(THE MOST DANGEROUS KIND) and everything under the Sun..

And of course it is YOUR(yes,,YOU the reader) DUTY to comment upon what i've written. Want to shower me with praises for my writing??? Don't hold back. Want to contradict me??? Go ahead. Want to flame me??? Don't bother wasting your time and energy..

Right then...It's SHOWTIME..