Little Things......

Now that my cynic head has been folded in for a while, let me rant on for a while feeling good about life.

Everyone talks about how it was a rotten day and how things went all wrong.
Hmm.....just a thought...what things would make you feel good at the end of the day? Would there be 5 things that you would list out....

These cannot be anything special like winning a Nobel Prize or anything (hmm..not that I know anyone who has a chance of doing that)...these have to be the little pleasures in life...what are those 5? Let me attempt at this....

1. Talking with a friend after a long time....especially those ones with whom you can pick up from where you left irrespective of how long its been..
2. A job well done...and i mean in the strictest sense, well done according to myself not wrt the world, the bosses, the peers...i can tell you that should not be very often if your standards are high enough....
3. Somebody stopping for you on the road to let you go first...that's such a rarity in India....but trust me, you do it once in a while and hopefully the other person acknowledges it, it feels great
4. A real great joke....long live the sitcoms...even better if it is something in life...i do miss those amazing sessions of completely non-intellectual talk in B-school which leads to nothing...as George says, 'this show is about nothing' (Seinfeld)

5.

- Nothing more to say about this


This is tougher than I thought.....

Anybody interested in doing this can tag themselves and let me know their list of 5... :)

Speaketh the minister 2

Hmmm....after I had made a mention of the possible impact of the inexperienced chief minister, it looks the Honourable Chief Minister has already heard about it and has responded to it. I didnt know I was such a powerful spokesperson.. :)

Anyway, turning the argument on its head, maybe in some ways it is also good. Like in any B-school, you will have the real experienced guys (5yrs & more...we used to call them Lathis) and the real young kids (19-20 yr olds). Both of them have their own strengths. I guess similarly, having a chief minister who hasnt held office before may allow him to go ahead with schemes without being ambushed by other compulsions at least until he learns the trick of the trade. (oh...there my cynic head sprouts up again....in you go)

For the record, I do see the roads being taken up as a serious concern. The Koramangala roads are being tarred at a feverish pace and it seems to be the case in several parts of the city. Great!!

Back at Blore

It always feels good to be back in Bangalore whatever people might say about the crumbling infra ..blah..blah...

After 2 sweltering days in Chennai, Bangalore weather is just 2 cool.

Speaketh the minister

I like this question and the tone it takes. The day after, there seems to be no trace of the carnage that happened in the city just a day earlier. Like any Indian, all of us will just go back to our lives as normal. The media would call this 'resilience' or 'strength of the Mumbaikar' if this was in Mumbai....that's another story

Ah..now the reason I started this post...yesterday as always, every news channel was talking to anyone who was available and not burning buses (Mr.Kumaraswamy, the Chief Minister and Mr.Ajay Kumar Singh, the police commisioner very prominently visible)

I just dont get the chief minister. I am not sure if his inexperience is catching up with him quite quickly.
Yesterday when he comments on the law & order situation, it seemed that he had really no clue what to do. Also the way he articulates, there seems to be that 'laid-backness' seen in his words. Lucky for him, there are probably still a few good men in the Police Dept.

Also,he is going around approving projects many of them with conflicting interests and overlapping timelines. There is the Metro, the airport, the elevated highway near Electronics City. We are also actually seeing the first signs of activity. Somehow, I cannot see this more than the initial adrenaline pumping

The dangers are that a population which is already harassed by growing traffic problems finds itself inconvenienced even more. Of course, if these are planned well, I am sure the populace will live it through. But the track record really does not say much about the administration.

Why dont we have really good city planners supported by at least some capable politicians?

A City gone Crazy

And just like that Bangalore goes crazy at the death of a veteran actor. I guess I can never be truly Bangalorean since I dont feel for the death of Dr.Rajkumar as much as the thousands of Kannadigas...

The security guards at my office were passing out pictures of 'Annavaru' to stick on the car windshields. The guard tells me 'for your safety only, sir'. I must admit I found it funny but I guess I would rather find it funny than with a broken leg or something.

I understand having a hero/role model to look upto. But to go crazy to the extent of creating violence at that is just something I cant figure out. The worst, they have just shut down the city...

For a poor bachelor like me who does not count his culinary skills as a strength, this was a nightmare. Hell, I didnt even have enough food stocked at home since I wasnt in town for the last few days. I hope tomorrow is a little better.

God bless the inventor of Maggi, the saviour always....

Pearls of Seinfeld

Since I have no pearls of wisdom to offer the world now, I thought I'll put down some from Seinfeld, the show.

I have never been able to decide which was funnier, Friends or Seinfeld...

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Telemarketer: Hi. Would you be interested in switching over to TMI Long Distance service?
Jerry: Oh, gee, I can't talk right now. Why don't you give me your home number and I'll call you later.
Telemarketer: Uh, sorry, we're not allowed to do that.
Jerry: Oh, I guess you don't want people calling you at home.
Telemarketer: No.
Jerry: Well, now you know how I feel.
[hangs up]

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Jerry: Looking at cleavage is like looking at the sun. You don't stare at it. It's too risky. Ya get a sense of it and then you look away.

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George Costanza: I just don't see what purpose is it going to serve your going? I mean, you think dead people care who's at the funeral? They don't even know they're having a funeral. It's not like she's hanging out in the back going, "I can't believe Jerry didn't show up".
Elaine: Maybe she's there in spirit. How about that?
George Costanza: If you're a spirit, and you can travel to other dimensions and galaxies, and find out the mysteries of the universe, you think she's going to want to hang around Drexler's funeral home on Ocean Parkway?

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George Costanza: Someday, before I die, mark my words... I'm gonna tell that woman exactly what I think of her. I'll never be able to forgive myself until I do.
Jerry: And if you do?
George Costanza: Well, I still won't be able to forgive myself, but at least it won't be about this.

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"I thought you were happy-go-lucky."
"No, no, no, I'm not happy, I'm not lucky, and I don't go. If anything, I'm sad-stop-unlucky."
- Naomi and Jerry, in "The Bubble Boy"

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What would the world be like if people said whatever they were thinking, all the time, whenever it came to them? How long would a blind date last? About 13 seconds, I think. "Oh, sorry, your rear end is too big." "That's ok, your breath stinks anyway. See you later."
- Jerry

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"It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper."

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"Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash."

Bangalore - What comes to mind?

Taking a cue from this what comes to mind when you think of Bangalore.

The Vidhana Soudha at night..

Originally uploaded by anitabora.

If you dont recognize this, this is Brigade road without the millions of vela people (Courtesy Anita Bora)